Naruto: Kenjutsu Master
by basugays
Summary: Naruto is taken into the Inuzuka clan's home after the defeat of the Kyuubi and raised by Tsume's iron fist. What will happen when he develops a fondness for all things sharp or pointy? Konoha will never be the same, that's for certain.
1. Chapter 001

**Chapter 1**

* * *

The cacophony in the Clan council room was enough to wake the dead as Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, found as he swept in, holding a small bundle in his arms. His face, shadowed by his hat, was grim as he surveyed the sight before him.

The once proud clans were in chaos, the Hyuugas bickered with the Uchihas childishly, nitpicking at every possible fault they could find (blood was coming very close to being spilled), the lesser clans quarreled, and the Inuzukas growled audibly over the whole thing.

It took everything the Hokage had not to bash all their heads together. The old man sighed forlornly as he looked down on the sleeping bundle in his arms, wondering how the little tyke could snooze through all this racket. He was getting too old for this.

"Silence," Hiruzen commanded and the whole room became still, even in chaos the Hokage remained the unquestioned leader, which was a good thing if the coming revelation hit then as hard as it had hit him.

The weight of their eyes weighed heavily on him and then to the sleeping boy in his arms, and he met every single one of them individually, eyes hard and silently daring them to challenge him directly. The old man stalked across the floor and to his chair, sitting down heavily and leaning back.

He decided to start with the blunt approach.

"The Kyuubi is dead," The whole room stirred again, every emotion from relief to indignation coloured the faces in front of him.

"And what of the Yondaime?" A bold lesser clan member called. The Hokage felt heavy grief stir inside of him, threatening to surface, but he pushed it down harshly, he would have time to grieve later. His duty right now was his predecessor's son, who was now orphaned and carried the strongest living Biiju unknowingly inside of him.

"Dead," Hiruzen replied monotonously as the room exploded into chaos once again. Grief was on many of the faces he could see, and rightly so, Minato had been a greatly respected man and Hokage.

"How," Tsume Inuzuka demanded, her clan markings prominent against her pale grief-ridden face, she had been close to Minato. The other clans appreciated the question, immediately turning to the Hokage for the answer.

"He gave his life to seal away the demon," the older man answered, voice low with pain. He knew what question was coming next.

"Seal the demon into what?" This time it was the head of the Hyuuga clan. Hiashi looked pensive, his pale eyes tight with uncertainty. The council began to stir restlessly as the Hokage was hesitant to answer.

"His newborn son," the older man turned his deep set eyes to the baby in his arms "His wife, Kushina died shortly after the child's birth,"

Those close to the newly deceased couple hunched over themselves slightly, faces stark with pain and disbelief, while others flinched away from the Hokage and the newborn in his arms, adding up the dots to who and what the baby was, their faces twisted in fear and the beginning of hatred.

"Dead," the room whispered, they didn't want to believe it, the young couple had been so happy and cheerful, so excited at the prospect of becoming parents. For them to be dead... It seemed almost impossible, ridiculous even, and what had happened to their son...

Tsume rose from her seat, eyes upon the child in the Hokage's arms.

"Is this the pup?" She asked hesitantly, eyes catching on the tuft of blonde hair peeking out from the white blanket covering the child.

The Sandaime nodded, watching the fierce woman closely for any signs of aggression. He was still unsure of the reactions from his recent revelation. But the tight feeling in his chest loosened slightly as the Inuzuka clan Head moved closer, holding her arms out for the baby without a word.

Hiruzen handed the legacy of the Yondaime over with care, making sure to keep a secure grip on the child so that he wouldn't be harmed. All his worries faded away when Tsume cradled the baby with expert ease, bringing him close to her chest and looking down upon him with surprisingly gentle eyes. The child chose that moment to stir, blinking open his wide blue eyes and gazing in wonder upon the woman holding him. A small pink hand reached out from the fluffy white blanket wrapped securely around his body, reaching towards the older womans face above him.

The room held its breath, the anger and hatred thick and palpable in the air, waiting for any sign of danger from the young jinchuuriki in the Inuzuka clan head's arms. The blond boy didn't seem to notice, he was still staring with complete fascination at the fierce woman in front of him. Tsume returned the look, finding herself unable to look away.

The newborn's eyes were so warm, full of happiness and wonder as he watched her face, so clean of the hatred and cruelty that plagued her colleagues and twisted their faces into ugly snarls. She knew that there was no way that this child could be the monster sealed inside of him, so one with such kind eyes could be the thing many people already hated him for. She pressed her index finger to the grasping hand reaching for her face, smiling as the blonde boy clutched it eagerly with his tiny hand, cooing happily.

Some of the more neutral clan heads smiled along with her, they did not hold the hatred the others did. They knew that Tsume had let herself relax as she held the child, no demon could manage that.

The dark haired woman glanced over the Hokage "Does the puppy have a name?" She said roughly, absently bouncing the child in her arms.

The old man felt a feeling of relief wash through him, maybe the boy wouldn't have to endure the isolation of being a jinchuuriki alone.

"Naruto," the elderly man confirmed with a slight smile twisting his lips. Tsume smiled down at the happy child in her arms, rapt, as the Hokage began to speak to the room.

"The Yondaime," Hiruzen began, steel in his voice as he surveyed the room "Wanted his son to be regarded as a hero. That child," The old man gestured to the boy in the Inuzuka clan head's arms "Is the saviour of Konoha, that is as sure as the will of fire that runs in his veins. Just by _breathing_, that young boy is saving this village from complete destruction by the Kyuubi. And if I see anyone displaying unprecedented anger or treating him unfairly in this village," His hard eyes scanned the room, causing the clan heads to flinch back at the unwavering heat of brewing anger there. "There will be severe punishments, I swear on this with my title of Hokage of Konoha,"

The room stilled completely as the implications of the vow the Hokage just spoken. Some almost didn't believe it, their anger and disbelief was so strong, while others approved, the Yondaime's child should bear no prejudice in any way for the burden he carried. He was their saviour after all.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the room unanimously intoned, they had seen the fire in their leaders eyes, anyone who defied him now was sure to have a death wish. Some looked as if the agreement had been pulled out of them like a struggling fish on a hook, their gritted teeth and narrowed eyes told Hiruzen to keep an eye in them in the future.

But that was a matter to think of later, for now, he had a child to find a suitable family for.

* * *

"Me?" Tsume was beside herself, why would the Hokage pick her as the blonde pup's mother? In all rights she knew that she could just flat out refuse and walk away, she already had two gakis to look after, another might just be pushing it. The Sandaime was holding the brat close to him, one hand supporting his backside as the other cupped his back so Naruto gazed the other way over his shoulder.

"Why not? He likes you," The old man said slyly, before turning the curious baby to face Tsume, his bright blue eyes widened considerably and he instantly made grabbing motions to the woman in front of him.

**Critical Blow!**

The fierce woman staggered, her motherly instincts flaring to life almost instantly as every nerve screamed to take the adorable child and squeeze him tight, babble unintelligible nonsense to him. But she knew that if she did, then she would lose the battle.

"Damn you Sarutobi," She hissed, her walls were slowly beginning to crumble. The old man's deep set eyes twinkled with the onset of victory as he drew the baby back in close.

"It's okay Naruto," he began in a kind, grandfatherly tone "I guess i'll just have to give you to Jiraya, im sure he would really appreciate all the help you'll give him with his research," The Hokage slowly turned away and began to walk deliberately slowly away from the horror stricken woman behind him as he began to cackle.

All the clan head could imagine was the creepy old pervert flaunting the cute blonde child through a large crowd of screeching women and grinning domineeringly as blood slowly dripped from his nose and onto the the crying Naruto below...

"_NO!_" Tsume howled before she could stop herself, moving with all her ninja speed to remove Naruto from the Hokage's arms and press him to her chest before freezing.

She took one look at the devious old man's face and she knew she'd been had.

Damn, guess he ain't the Hokage for just anything.

She tried to stare back rebelliously in protest but as the small child her arms gave a gave a happy giggle and grasped a lock of her hair in his chubby palm, looking up at her with curious blue eyes, she couldn't push him away now. She turned hesitantly back to the Sandaime, who was now watching her with a serene smile on his face.

"Fine," Tsume growled "I'll take the gaki," she watched as the victorious gleam in Sarutobi's eyes increased with rising annoyance.

"I knew you'd see it my way Tsume dear," Hiruzen said, sounding every inch the benevolent grandparent.

"Don't push it old man, I've neutered more old dogs than you've thrown kunai," Tsume snarled threateningly before vanishing in a swirl of leaves, Naruto in her arms.

Hiruzen gulped slightly, thanking Kami for his private parts' safety (for today) as he slowly moved to his office window.

With a sense of creeping dread, the Hokage of Konoha looked out over his beloved village.

If Naruto was to be raised by Tsume, the ninja world was going to be in for a big shock, that was for sure.

* * *

Tsume sat down heavily onto one of the bar stools, placing the little blond gaki on her knee.

"Hardest you got," She rumbled to the bartender, watching as he hurriedly went about her order. She was on the outskirts of Konoha, nearing pretty close to the border with Iwa, as the Kyuubi's influence had only really affected the Northern areas of the village. She had no doubt that she would soon be joined with other ninja very soon, this bar was one of the only ones open right now at three in the evening (also one of the ones not affected by the Kyuubi's wrath).

Her eyes shifted from the busy bartender to the gaki on her knee, who was being very active for a newborn baby. Shouldnt he be sleeping right about now?

Jeez, being born and then having the demon of demons shoved inside of him and losing his family all in one day. Lady Luck sure hated this kid.

She tossed the bartender a few ryo as he placed a glass full of rich amber liquid in front of her, she took a huge gulp and relished the fierce burn as it went down, warming her to her toes. The brunette woman heaved a huge sigh of relief and set the quarter empty glass on the table again.

Tsume gripped Naruto under his armpits firmly and turned him to face her. He sat there staring raptly at the woman once again, she had henged the blanket into a white playsuit so he could move around more freely.

"So gaki, guess you're gonna be stuck with me for the foreseeable future. Any comments?" The fierce woman asked the cheerful baby, who just gurgled in response and tried to move further towards her.

"I'm taking that as a no," She nodded before placing him back on her knee and taking another gulp of her alcohol. She didn't bother turning to face her visitor as she felt the chakra signature advancing at walking speed towards the bar stall.

"Whadayya want Anko?" she grumbled into her glass as the kunoichi sat down on the stool next to her.

The buxom Jonin gave her a cheeky grin "Why Tsume-chan, didn't see you there! I'm here to get a drink, of course," She cooed an order at the now blushing bartender (who was trying his best to keep his eyes off of Anko's rather large assets) as turned to face the other woman again and the bouncing baby boy on her lap.

"And _whoo_ is this?" the brunette kunoichi leered at the small boy with an intentionally scary grin, baring her teeth, expecting to make the kid cry.

Only to have the little blonde boy grin back in his best imitation of the older woman's, despite his lack of teeth. Anko paused, staring at Naruto with a touch of disbelief before breaking out into a small fit of chuckles.

"Spunky gaki, ain't ya?" the jonin grinned as the baby giggled along with her, his blue eyes sparkling happily. The brutish brunette felt herself fall for the kid a little, how could she resist? He was pretty adorable in his own right.

"His name is Naruto," Tsume informed her fellow jonin before taking another swig of her alcohol, banging the empty glass down on the wooden table with a sharp exhalation of breath as the last of the liquid burned down her throat and into her stomach and feeling steadier for it.

The aforementioned boy was now reaching out towards Anko, making grabbing motions with his hands.

_He acts more like a young toddler than a newborn baby, whats up with that?_ Tsume's internal muse grumbled, watching as she let Anko take the kid and press him into her bountiful cleavage, squealing like a schoolgirl.

_The Kyuubi?_ She wondered as the pealing laughter of Naruto reached her as the brunette jonin tickled his belly. The older jonin thought about it for a little while before shaking her head, the kid was too cheerful to be the demon, he lacked the smell of malevolence and evil. He smelt clean, full of cheer and contentment. The Kyuubi had not become part of the boy's consciousness, but perhaps it had fueled his advanced awareness of his surroundings?

Tsume could only guess, but Naruto was definitely not the demon, and that was enough for her. As she came back to reality, so watched in bemusement as Anko fawned over the small child. Did she have a budding womanizer on her hands? For him to have won over Anko so quickly..

_Heh, perfect blackmail material_, she snickered as she discreetly snapped a few pictures of the scene in front of her and tucking them safely away for future reference. She wasn't a jonin for nothing, after all.

"Put the kid down, Anko," The fierce woman called "Can't have him getting wiped out too quickly. He needs to meet the rest of the pack later," This caused the buxom brunette to pause and glance over to the older woman in surprise.

"'Meet the pack,' huh? What's going on?" The younger ninja puzzled, stilling her movements and tilting her head to the side.

"I'm adopting the kid, he was orphaned today," Tsume sighed as she leaned against the bar "And the Hokage decided I was the best match for him," she grumbled, still not able to believe what she had been suckered into by the old man, shaking her head in mild disbelief.

"Adopting…" Anko parroted, struck by surprise for a few moments before a shit eating grin took over her face and her eyes lit with devilish mischief.

"Guess what baby Fishcake," the brunette cooed to Naruto, who was still in her arms "You just got a new Nee-san!"

Fishcake, Tsume thought in a daze before snapping to attention and staring at Anko, who was now doing a little jig with Naruto in her arms.

"_Eeh! Nee-san?!_"

* * *

**(A short time later)**

* * *

This can't be happening, the fierce woman thought in a daze as she watched Orochimaru's ex-student dance around her living room, swinging the giggling baby Naruto around in circles.

"Tsume.. What's happening here?" Kuromaru said slowly, watching the scene in front of him dumbly as the probably insane jonin performed a dance number on the coffee table in the lounge, holding a happy blonde child in her arms.

"Meet the new additions to the family," his partner answered as she sat down heavily onto one of the leather couches in defeat. The wolf-like canine felt all the blood drain from his face behind his fur as his tail drooped to the floor in disbelief. One look at his partners face told him she wasn't joking.

"_Kami save us_," the huge ninken intoned quietly, snout to the floor. Both members of the Inuzuka had ominous purple clouds hovering depressedly over their heads as they accepted their fate.

Meanwhile, Anko was ecstatic.

Somewhere between meeting Fishcake and getting to the Inuzuka compound she had decided that she was to be the adorable baby's sensei/Nee-san. Tsume had explained Naruto's 'situation' to her but she had become no less deterred, perhaps becoming more determined than before, even.

_I'll make little Fishcake the strongest ninja in the whole Elemental Nations!_ Chibi Anko vowed (eyes sparkling in a way not unlike Gai's when he spoke of youth and green) before flashing the peace sign.

* * *

_**Hello dearest readers!**_

_**Okay, so this is my first shot on a serious story in the world of fanfiction (outside mine and K's smutty Kuroko no Basuke fanfictions which are also on this account) and any input would be wonderful! I was going to make the chapter longer but I was too exited and let my eagerness get in the way of my need to write longer chapters... They should be about 5000 - 10,000 words in the future (this one is only 3000+...)**_

_**This was actually a pet project that I pottered around in during my graphics class at school (because i'm too lazy to do any actual work whatsoever) and I kind of got into it, so here you go!**_

_**Okay! So, warnings for future reference:**_

_**[[Possible]] Yaoi, I'm saying, I don't hate it so it could be a pairing in the future, I have no clue if it WILL be, I'm just warning you, okay? The story could just be freaking NonRomance - I'm just saying - Don't come bitching to me about it, just because you complain doesn't mean I'm going to change anything for you.**_

_**Violence of varying degrees**_

_If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask! I still haven't got a solid plan for the direction of this story yet but i'll try my best to give you a solid answer!_

_Drop a review, a favorite, a follow (or all three) I'd really appreciate it, reviews feed the muse guys! They make me want to update quicker!_

_That's it for now_

_Ja ne~_


	2. Chapter 002

**Disclaimer: Am I rich? No? Is my name Kishimoto? No? Then I don't own Naruto. Bye**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

* * *

_What in the name of Kami is this gaki,_ Tsume watched as baby Naruto gnawed on a blunt kunai, leaving small tooth sized dents in the sturdy metal. He had started teething only two days before, at two months old, and had already gone through about twenty of the blunt projectile weapons.

Naruto had two canine teeth coming in, only just peaking out from his red gums and had become quite irritable because of them. But Anko had been thrilled when the gaki had started chewing on one of the practice kunai she had been letting him play with, enjoying the display of animalistic curiosity, cooing at him about how cute he looked before snapping a few pictures of the scene.

Tsume shook her head at the memory, the buxom jonin really was so odd.

Baby Kiba sat next to Naruto, watching in curiosity as his new brother put dent after dent in the kunai. Kiba was only a few months older than the blonde boy, but due to the gaki's accelerated maturation they seemed more or less the same age. Naruto offered the other child one of his discarded chew toys, still covered in his own drool. The baby brunette looked over to his mother in puzzlement, asking her silently what was going on here.

The two had met the day after Naruto had been welcomed into the family and had instantly taken a liking to one another, happily sitting alongside one another and talking in baby babble, sleeping next to each other and eating together. Which the fierce woman was thankful for, if they hadn't gotten along… Tsume didn't know what she would have done, they were both quite stubborn babies, they were actually very similar.

Hana had been bemused when she had first met the little blonde jinchuuriki, the four year old had asked an endless amount of questions, 'Who is he?' 'What is he doing here?' 'Why is that lady dancing on our table?'. The fierce woman really hadn't known what to say to the last one. But the kid didn't seem to mind Naruto, she just seemed to accept it before asking if she could hold him (Tsume had snapped quite a few pictures of that moment).

The ninken had also displayed a fondness of the jinchuuriki, after getting past the strong smell of fox, the dogs treated Naruto just like any other Inuzuka member. They seemed to like being around the cheerful blonde, just basking in the happy aura of the small child relaxed them to a degree. Not to mention he was also a great playmate for the puppies, the whiskered blond had a boundless amount of energy, it seemed. After a whole two hours of play it only took him one hour to recuperate and then he would be back on his (metaphorical) feet and raring to go.

It was exhausting for Tsume to say the least, three kids to look after and having to keep an eye out for 'Anko nee-san' and one of her hairbrained schemes around Naruto. She could barely find the time to go on any missions, and she couldn't even go on any of the high paying ones as they often entailed leaving for extended periods of time, which was quite impossible for her unless she found a babysitter (that _wasn't _Anko) that didn't mind looking after three kids, one of which was the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. It was safe to say that her predicament wasn't going to get better anytime soon.

* * *

But oddly enough, the answer came knocking on her door one morning in the form of Kakashi Hatake. The eye smiling teen had jovially offered his assistance to the stressed woman, who had, after a few moments of deliberation taken him to the kennels for inspection.

Kuromaru had sniffed the silver haired teen thoroughly before reporting back with only the smells of dog Summons, excitement, cloth and lightning. Devoid of the smell of lies, anger or hatred.

"Why would you want to babysit _my _kids of all the kids, Kakashi? Especially Naruto," The words were spoken bluntly and without preamble, curious to see if they would get a reaction out of the cheery teen.

"Naruto is the only reason I _want _to babysit your kids Tsume-san. He ismy sensei's kid after all," Kakashi's eyes were resting upon her seriously, all trace of cheerfulness gone. The kid was serious, and he was good. It took a lot to become an ANBU squad leader at the tender age of 13, but then again, he was the Yondaime Hokage's student, Konoha's Yellow Flash…

The woman's thoughts trailed off abruptly, the swift stab of grief returning her to reality. Although she had mostly gotten over her friend's death, it didn't mean that it hurt any less.

"Go ahead and meet the pups then," The fierce woman said shortly, turning towards the door before looking back "I'm going to see what missions are available," She vanished in a swirl of leaves.

A small gust of wind buffeted the silver haired teen, causing his hair to be ruffled slightly. He understood what the jonin was feeling, he felt it every day when he woke up and realised that his sensei was dead.

Kakashi sighed, raising a hand to rub the back of his neck and began to walk away from the kennels, aware of the multitude of canine eyes that rested on his back. To the Inuzuka's, the pack was life, betray the pack, forfeit your life. It was safe to say that he liked that system, it was a part of being a ninja that was often forgotten. Comrades are _never _easily disposable.

The ANBU captain navigated the Inuzuka compound with ease, using his advanced sense of smell to take the path that would lead him directly to the room where the children were.

Kakashi soon reached his destination and found himself hesitating to open the door that would lead him to where his sensei's son was.

_What would he do? What if the kid didn't like him? What was he going to say?_

The young man just shook his head. The kid was a baby! It's not like he could do anything!

Right?

_Wrong._

As soon as he had walked into the room where the three Inuzuka children sat an eye smile colouring his features, a dented, saliva coated kunai was launched at his head, missing by only centimetres as it was lodged in the wall.

Kakashi froze, staring in shock as the little baby Naruto giggled happily as he smiled, two little fangs protruding from his gums as _Mitarashi Anko _of all people cheered and applauded him

_Oh kami, what have I gotten myself into?_

Anko was like a protective mother wolf when it came to to Naruto, as Kakashi found in the first couple of minutes of announcing to the brutish jonin that he was to be the blonde gaki's new babysitter.

"Get away from my Naru-chan you pervert!" The elder jonin yelled as she launched a flying kick at the silver haired teen's head, which he avoided with ease, knowing that Anko wasn't being completely serious in her attack. However he was quite offended at the pervert comment, he hadn't even had his Icha Icha in his hand dammit!

"I'm his babysitter Anko!" The teen complained, dodging another attack from the deranged brunette, wondering how in the name of Kami he was going to deal with this one.

"_Lieees!" _ Orochimaru's ex-student howled, launching a swarm of shuriken at the masked ninja. At this, the little blonde chibi squealed at and clapped his hands animatedly, causing Kakashi to flinch in betrayal. Even his sensei's son was against him!

"I will not allow you to corrupt Fishcake with your perverted ways!" Anko continued, planting her feet on the floor, lifting her hand to face and biting her thumb hard enough to draw blood. "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_** (Summoning Technique)**!" She called with a vicious grin, crouching and smearing her blood coated thumb over the floor beneath her.

Ninja smoke poofed into existence as the sound of slithering scales hit his ears, followed by an ominous hissing. Kakashi stared in disbelief as the smoke cleared away, leaving the giant snake in clear view. Its body was as thick as an old oak and twenty feet long.

_Is this crazy broad serious..? _The silver haired teen stared incredulously at the scene before him, the snake looked hungry.

"Anko!" The Copy Nin growled as he was forced to leap out of the way at top speed as the huge reptile lunged for him, it's maw gaping wide. He was then forced on a chase around the Inuzuka compound, desperately avoiding multiple attacks from the seemingly growing number of snakes as he feared for his life.

His desperate calls for help were left unanswered as Anko cooed to the oblivious and happy Naruto, handing him another kunai to teethe on as baby Kiba and Hana watched T.v contentedly, Anko turned the volume high so that they could drown out the loud yells and crashes that resounded over their home.

* * *

But despite their odd first meeting, it was found that Naruto actually liked Kakashi quite a lot, funnily enough. Anko had been given a stern talking to by Tsume after the fierce woman had come back from her mission hunting to find her house (barring the living room) had been pretty much destroyed. So then, the following rules remained (mostly) undisputed:

Number one, All use of Summoning contracts are to be banned unless further pardon given by the Inuzuka clan head (Tsume), future clan head's pardon doesn't mean jack shit (Naruto, Kiba, Hana)

Number two, All means of pervertedness (Kakashi) is hereby banned in the Inuzuka compound, failure to meet this rule will be punishable by _death._

Tsume had a feeling that she would be adding to that list again way too soon. Ahh, the joy of having children.

* * *

At three months old, quite a few more of Naruto's teeth had come in, and it was almost needless to say that the little tyke was a monster when it came to food.

While the Inuzuka's were keen on red meat, Naruto must have been doubly keen. If anyone came within ten metres to the blonde baby with any kind of meat, they were subjected to the biggest, cutest watery blue eyes on the face of the entire Elemental Nations. It took almost impossible strength to look away, let alone resist feeding him. Many good people had lost their well-earned meals because of that adorable face.

Anything and everything would be devoured while in the near vicinity to Naruto, but everybody soon found that there was one food that the baby blonde would very willingly give everything else up for without so much as a blink.

And as Fate would have it, of course it would have to be ramen. Or as Kushina had put it, the food of the Gods. In some aspects, Naruto was so alike to his mother that it would be painful to those that had knew her. Tsume could hardly wait until the gaki started talking, if only to hear if he would develop a verbal tic like his mother had had before him.

The kid's attitude had become as alike to his biological mother's as could be possible at his young age. The addiction to ramen, the always excitable, cheerful personality, even his grin could be likened very much to Kushina's. But while he had his biological mother's personality, his looks were his father's hands down. Naruto's hair (which had been growing at an accelerated rate, just like the rest of him) was almost an exact replica of the Yondaime's if it had been a little shorter. But since it was an Inuzuka family tradition to have long, shaggy hair, the kid looked just as feral as the rest of his adopted family. Even if he didn't have the correct clan markings on his cheeks, the whisker marks more than made up for it, an Inuzuka in his own right for sure.

Even as a baby the kid looked exotic and wild, his wild blonde hair framing his wide blue eyes and whisker lined cheeks.. Tsume could tell the kid was going to be a heartbreaker when he was older and, if he followed his birth parents in their level of pure power and chakra in biological warfare, a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. The fierce woman could hardly wait until she gave him a ninken, oh the possibilities!

But that was a thought to be left for a more relevant time, she supposed, when the kid could actually talk - and fight for that matter. His future ninken would need to match his personality perfectly, otherwise the team dynamic would be thrown off kilter. And as a ninja, everyone knew that even one off day could be your last day.

This was still apparent all over the village, ninjas were still twitchy - still on edge about their recent war with Iwa and the Kyuubi attack. Many ninja found it hard to break the habit of multiple years of hard, harrowing training - which had kept them in top fighting form. Unless you were one of the souls who couldn't withstand the pressure and broke down.

Bodies giving way from being under too much physical stress, minds breaking down from the pressure and the acute mental strain of trying frantically to keep up with their peers… Tsume had seen it all, many good people and ninja had passed this way.

The fierce woman cast a look towards the bubbly baby blonde and his brunette brother sat on the floor with Satsuko, Kuromaru's mate, and her latest litter of pups. Watching as they played with the black, white and orange dappled puppies, giggling furiously when they gave both of them a tongue bath as their mother watched on fondly, her body wrapped around them all possessively.

One look at her adopted son and she knew that of all the ninja in Konoha, he burned with the will of fire the strongest. Even the Hokage had proudly proclaimed this in front of the clan council, and Tsume knew that if their Sandaime believed in her son from the day of his birth, then she would too. And push him towards his destiny with both hands, lending him all her knowledge and strength so that be would become the ninja the village would need in the near future.

_Although, _the brunette thought wryly, _if the villagers continue to act like pigheaded idiots, I'm not sure if my son would find them worth saving._

It had become apparent that the village scorned the jinchuuriki. From the moment Tsume had informed people of her adopting Naruto, the Inuzukas had become the talk of the village. Rumours of the clan being possessed by the demon's chakra and turning them against Konoha had sent the village into a frenzy. People called for 'demon's' blood, demanding that the ninja of Konoha and the Hokage do something the cleanse the village of the 'beast'.

Somehow the townspeople had gotten it into their thick heads that _Naruto, _of all people, was the demon. Totally disregarding the sweet and constantly cheerful disposition of the blonde baby jailing the Kyuubi, as if they didn't even for one second believe in the former Hokage that had put that seal there!

It infuriated the woman to no end, how could the people of Konoha direct their undiluted hatred and scorn at such an innocent being astounded the fierce jonin. Many of the more rational ninja clans, such as the Naras, the Aburames, the Hyuugas (oddly enough), the Akamichis and the Yamanakas, had shared her view and had made a point to express their feelings about the matter to the public, completely uncaring about the new attitude the villagers adopted towards them in result.

Anko had also become incensed, many heads had almost rolled for the multiple offhand comments that had been muttered from behind shielding palms in her presence. Her protectiveness of her 'Fishcake' was enough to rival Tsume's, the buxom jonin had taken to her new role as Naruto's nee-san very seriously, which was very much appreciated by the Inuzuka clan head.

There was not only Anko, but also Kakashi, as Tsume was surprised to find. The silver haired teen had been quite the avenger, she found, and the story of the Copy nin completely destroying a ninja only bar in pursuit of teaching a lesson to a few idiotic chunins and jonins that couldn't keep their mouths shut about their opinions including the young jinchuuriki.

But luckily the Hokage hadn't found it prudent to punish Kakashi, as what he had heard from the graphic retelling of the conquest by the silver haired teen, what the other nin had said about Naruto was enough to anger the Hokage, whose restraint was legendary in his own right.

It was safe to say that the bonde baby was very well protected as far as Tsume was concerned, but the woman could only imagine what the little boy's life would be like if she hadn't taken him in, in an orphanage being taken of by people that despised him for completely irrational reasons, on the streets as soon as he was capable of looking after himself by any small degree. The poor boy would have been dead in months at the very best. Even the gaki living _Jiraiya _would be better than that.

The fierce woman shuddered, taking in the comfort of the happy view of Naruto and Kiba curled up on a soft carpet with the puppies as they slept, the mother ninken looking over them all protectively as her tail stirred lazily in a wag of content.

The feral brunette glanced out of the compound window, taking in the view of the lush green forests of Konohagakure with content eyes. She'd get to the more pressing problems later, when Naruto was able to give his input on the subject. Meanwhile, she and the other more accepting clans - who all had children around Naruto's age - would introduce their pups to each other and see how it developed from there. Hopefully they would develop their own friendship circle and mature from there, encouraging each other to get stronger and ideally instill each others more attractive personality traits into one another.

A wistful smile drifted across Tsume's lips as she thought of her own childhood, reliving the fonder memories.

Only to be interrupted from her tender thoughts as she looked over to where Naruto should have been, only to find an empty spot amongst the puppies and a confused looking Kiba and something immediately clicked into place.

"_Anko!" _

"_Why Tsume-chan_, were you getting misty eyed? How cute~!" The pretty jonin cooed from some unknown point in the room, which Tsume had pinpointed to be behind the couch due to her acute sense of sound, the older woman could hear the quiet giggles of Naruto, and the snap of a camera shutter, who was now most likely with Anko (Who was probably now dressing him in another one of her strange outfits to snap pictures of).

"_Why you-!" _The brunette cut off in rage, embarrassed to have been caught reminiscing.

* * *

"'ttebayo! 'ttebayo!" Naruto cheered from his spot on the floor, looking up at his mother enthusiastically with his big blue eyes and little fanged grin.

"_Believe what_?" Tsume muttered rhetorically, not expecting an answer from her overexcited son and she went about preparing dinner. The little blonde had only just recently learned the phrase, which had been his first word(s), and seemed to be very pleased with himself, simply repeating it over and over again whenever he had the chance.

Anko, however, was ecstatic "Uwaaa~! I'd believe anything you'd say, Fishcake-sama!" Tsume sweatdropped fiercely, '-_sama'_ ? The older brunette shook her head slowly at the pair as she simmered the beef needed for sukiyaki.

Somehow in the last day (when the pup had just spoken his first words) or so the strange jonin had taken to adding the suffix to Naruto's name, which the six month old blonde, despite not knowing what it meant, seemed to almost puff up at the praise.

Kiba had been confused when his brother started to make those weird sounds however, it had actually been quite amusing to watch for the older nin and ninken in the room as the blonde stuttered through his first renditions of the words, his distressed brunette brother tugging at his clothing worriedly with puzzled eyes.

Hana, however had been very proud of her younger brother, cheering him on as he finally spoke his first proper words, the little four (almost five) year old squealing happily along with Anko.

While Tsume was kind of bummed that his first words were not okaa-san, she had been just as proud as the rest of her family. But she couldn't exactly blame the gaki, she was out quite often on missions - while the Sandaime did help support Naruto by donating quite a lot of money to her every month, she had just felt too guilty to not put _some _effort towards her son's upbringing.

"The little tyke is sure growing quickly, ne?" Kakashi's voice drifted past her by her right as he suddenly appeared just behind her elbow, eyes turned upwards in his usual cheerful eye smile as he watched his sensei's child speak his his little bubbly voice.

"You can say that again," Tsume rumbled, a small smile tilting her thin, purple stained lips as she flipped the beef over so that it wouldn't burn.

"Okay then. _Ahem_ - _The little tyke is su-" _The silver haired ninja quickly evaded the fierce woman's elbow which was aimed for his stomach with force and precision.

"Shut up," The brunette grumbled, shooting a half hearted glare in the Copy nin's direction as he eye smiled again.

It was rare these days to not see Kakashi at the Inuzuka compound, when he wasn't training or on a mission he was nearly always where Naruto was. The two had actually formed quite a bond, the silver haired nin was surprisingly good with kids. Even Hana and Kiba had taken a liking to him, although both Tsume and Anko had kept an eye one for the perverted jonin's little orange books.

"'ttebayooo~!" Naruto howled, drawing out the last syllable, tilting his head back in the way that he had seen some of the ninken do sometimes. The nin in the kitchen jumped when they heard Kiba join in from his highchair at the table. They could only watch, and listen, slightly dumbstruck as they heard more voices join in with the duo's reedy howls, apparently the compound's ninken were putting their two ryo in. One could hear the puppy's experimental howls all the way from the kennels on the other side of the households.

Tsume gave a long grating laugh, originating from deep in her belly before also adding her voice into the pack howl.

The Inuzuka compound was on the outskirts of Konoha's city, surrounded by forests and rivers, but that evening even the villagers could hear the Inuzuka clan singing that night, along with their ninken as the night wore on, yelling in annoyance as the stray dogs bayed and barked along.

* * *

"_DYNAMIC ENTRY~!" _

Gai landed in a crouch in front of Kakashi, who was currently balancing the eight month old Naruto on his shoulders as they made their way towards the park, the latter babbling excitedly before quieting suddenly at the sudden appearance of the strange green man.

"KAKASHI, MY ETERNAL AND HIP RIVAL! IT IS I, THE WONDROUS AND BEAUTIFUL GREEN BEAST OF KONOHA! AND I AM HERE TO CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL!" The the overly enthusiastic jonin bellowed before adopting his patented 'Good Guy pose', causing their eardrums to ring a little as they stared dumbly.

"Hey Naruto, you want an ice cream?" Kakashi looked lazily over his shoulder to the young blonde as he walked around Gai and towards a nearby stall.

"'ttebayo, Kaka-nii!" Naruto cheered, attention immediately diverted from the strange man with a bowl cut that was yelling at his nii-chan and directing them towards the prospect of the delicious cold treat.

Gai froze completely before falling to his knees with an anguished cry to the heavens.

"SO HIP!"

(Fifteen minutes later)

"YOUTH!" Gai cried as he jumped out of the shrubbery at the Inuzuka compound and in front of Naruto and Kakashi, who were placidly eating their ice creams (Kakashi's was just mysteriously disappearing bit by bit as time wore on).

"You know Gai, this could be classed as harassment. Following a thirteen year old and an eight month old around… Talk about creepy," The silver haired teen sighed as he continued to walk, and before long he had vanished into the Inuzuka household.

The older teen completely froze as an ellipses hovered in the air above his head for a few seconds before he fell to his knees once again. His arch rival had gotten away once again.

_Damn you Kakashi..._

* * *

The Inuzukas were currently on their way to the Nara compound, Naruto and Kiba being carried by their mother and Hana riding on Kuromaru's back as they leaped from roof to roof at a fast pace.

"Goin'?" Kiba asked, his face upturned to look at his mother for an answer as the wind rushed through his hair, making it fall into his eyes. Kiba was eleven months old now and could understand simple words and phrases, Naruto wasnt that far behind at nine months, his slightly accelerated growth seemed to be slowing though - but he could more or less understand simple words and names like his older brother.

"Seeing friends," Tsume answered simply, knowing not to complicate her speech as she gave another powerful leap to reach the next roof with ease.

When the babies had started using simple words and learning names, it was the obvious thing to say that everything had sounded completely adorable coming out of their mouths. Anko had even seemed to have trouble breathing at some point as she had been suffering from a cute overload. Sometimes Tsume really worried for that girl, one of these days she was going to experience so much cute that she probably wouldn't be able to recover from it. The source would probably be Naruto, now that the fierce woman thought about it.

From the very first ''_nko-nee_' the dango loving jonin had almost sprung a nosebleed (Tsume had a big suspicion that Anko was a budding Shotacon). The brunette had been taking voice recordings of the little blonde's voice at every opportunity, Tsume had even heard the jonin playing them over and over again as she was falling asleep and all the way into the night. Tsume sweatdropped just thinking about it, if things carried on this way Naruto would probably have to wear a chastity belt in the future...

Anko wasn't with them today though, neither was Kakashi. They were both busy on missions and had been unavailable for the last two days. The gaki's had been getting restless without them, asking stumbling questions to where their nii-san and nee-san were.

Tsume shook her head with a fond smile, they were all becoming quite the mismatched family.

The fierce woman landed in a slight crouch as her sandalled feet hit grass, Kuromaru and Hana landing lightly next to them as they came to a stop outside the Nara home.

The gaki's were looking around curiously with their wide eyes, taking everything in with an innocent wonder that only children could manage as they surveyed the world.

"'ere?" It was Naruto that spoke up this time, his syllables lost in the translation slightly as his missed out the 'H'. The older brunette gave a fanged smile and nodded, unable to ruffle his hair as she would usually since she was holding Kiba also.

"Here," She agreed, starting forwards towards the Nara complex, nodding to the guards perched on the high walls surrounding the home, who nodded back, confirming her chakra signature to be authentic.

The Nara estate was huge, covered in forest and huge fields mostly used for the clan's deer that roamed freely for the majority of the time. She could even see some of them grazing on the forest's treeline, looking up at them with their lazy amber eyes before going back to grazing.

_Pfft, _Tsume grumbled internally, the Nara deer were just as lazy as the Nara's themselves. They were even too lazy to run from possible predators, such as the Inuzuka clan, being very dog-like is the best situations. Especially since some of them were very tempted by a game of chase, especially when the prey ran first. Call it instinct.

As Tsume reached the door to the home, she raised her fist to knock, but was unable to complete the action as Shikaku's wife, Yoshino, had already opened the door and welcomed them in with a huge smile.

Tsume liked Yoshino. She wasn't a layabout like the rest of the Nara clan, and was pretty strict with her husband, which was hilarious to watch since Shikaku was such a lazy bastard. Even more funnier to watch since he was totally whipped by his wife, but word on the street was that Yoshino was a complete demon when she got irritated, he he most likely had a good reason to be whipped.

_Guess its better to _be_ whipped than _literally_ whipped, _Tsume mused while thanking the Nara woman for her hospitality.

"_Oh! _And who are these two_ adorable_ boys?" The brunette cooed, smiling down at the two pups after greeting Hana with a warm hug and a cheerful smile.

"Kiba," Tsume introduced the brunette baby, who was staring curiously at the happy woman in front of him with his wide amber eyes "And Naruto," The fierce jonin gestured with her chin towards the whiskered blonde who was already beaming at the cheerful woman, seemingly happy to meet the warm lady. Yoshino could hardly hold in her squeals.

"And you? How's your pup?" Tsume asked curiously, if she remembered correctly, the Nara woman had given birth a few weeks after her.

Yoshino looked up from fussing with the older woman's babies with another bright smile before answering enthusiastically.

"Shikamaru is doing fine!" The exclaimed, her eyes brightening at the mention of her child before deflating a little "But all he seems to do is sleep…" She bemoaned "Nothing all like your two!"

"Sounds like he inherited the lazy Nara genes then," Tsume gave a gravelly chuckle as she followed Yoshino into her living room and sat down on one of the plush leather couches with a sigh, placing Kiba and Naruto next to each other on her right and Kuromaru settled at her feet with a heavy sigh as he rested his head on his paws.

The fierce brunette shot a look at her canine companion, not that he was looking at her. Kuromaru rarely had the patience for these kind of things.

"Wheres Shikaku? Shirking his fatherly duties?" Tsume asked wryly, settling back into the sofa and crossing her legs and flashing a cheeky grin at the younger woman to let her know she was only joking. Yoshino gave a hearty chuckle and settled back onto her sofa, relaxing and joining in on the banter.

"Hmm? Oh _that_ lazy-ass? I kicked him out ages ago, I only let him back in for some… _Stress relief," _The younger brunette quirked her eyebrow suggestively at the fierce woman adjacent to her. "Why, I think i've still got him chained up out back as we speak…"

The Inuzuka clan head tilted her head back as the let the laughter shake her shoulders, she knew there was a reason that she liked this woman!

"Well I think I have a few spare sturdy collars over in my kennels, wouldn't want him getting away now, would we?" Tsume snickered, lipsticked mouth tilting in a slightly feral grin as images of Shikaku in a studded collar and chain leash tied to a pole danced through her mind in jocose flashes.

Yoshino joined in with a full belly laugh as they bantered back and forth for a small while, letting the witty comments and innuendos relax them.

"Do I wanna know?" Shikaku asked dryly as he appeared in the doorway, silent as a shadow with an awake Shikamaru in his arms.

"It depends," Tsume snickered harder, tears welling from the corners of her eyes in mirth, gasping slightly for breath. The Nara cast his eyes over them warily as he bounced his son absently.

"Mendokuse," The older male sighed as he moved further into the room and sat down on a free couch, groaning a little as his spine clicked, vertebres popping back into place as he straightened his back.

"What's up Shika? Fatherhood catchin' up ta ya?" Tsume snickered some more. The brown haired man shot her a lazy glance, too lethargic to come up with a real response other than 'Un'.

"So this is the new addition, huh? Sure is cute, must be Yoshino's genes," The young Nara was quite small compared to Naruto or Kiba, with a thick crop of dark brown hair and bright, curious brown eyes. The pup was dressed in a dark blue playsuit decorated with multiple green shuriken as he laid idly in the crook of his fathers arms.

"'Dat?" Naruto leaned forwards curiously, peeking around his mother and older brother at Shikamaru with curious blue eyes.

"Shikamaru," Tsume responded, going through the name slightly slower than she normally would, sounding out each syllable clearly.

"Shika?" The little blonde repeated, eyes brightening as he grinned. Tsume gave a broad smile as the nodded in approval.

Yoshino pouted slightly "Talking already? No fair, Shikamaru hasn't even been _trying _to produce any semblance of words! Damn lazy Nara genes…" The brunette grumbled as her cheeks puffed out in annoyance.

"Their first words arent always as cute as you might think, ya'know," Tsume sighed, remembering how bummed she was when neither of her kids' first words was 'Okaa-san'.

"What do you mean?" Yoshino asked, looking up at her curiously.

"Well, Naruto's first words were _Dattebayo_ and Kiba's was _Baka_…" Tsume trailed off, a little embarrassed.

"'ttebayo!" Naruto enthused, excited at hearing his favourite catchphrase.

"Baka," Kiba grinned.

"_Mendokuse," _Shikamaru said quietly with perfect pronunciation.

Yoshino fell off her sofa.

* * *

Tsume was on another play date with the pups, this time to the Hyuuga estate.

_I wonder how this is gonna turn out… _Tsume mused as she walked through the immaculate halls of the mansion, Hiashi walking calmly at her side.

"How is Hikari?" The fierce woman asked conversationally into the silence, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"She is fine and well. There were no problems during Hinata's birth," The elder Hyuuga replied, his voice warm while speaking of his wife and daughter. Tsume smiled, for all of Hiashi's coldness, he loved his family. Feeling a little more at ease she asked further.

"And how is Hinata? Doing well?"

"Yes, although she is a little shy around strangers from what I have been able to see… But I am hoping that your two will be able to remedy that," The long haired brunette shot a smile at the dangerous looking woman and then to her kids, who were staring openly at the older man and gazing around avidly.

"Ha, shy? Well a little while around these two will knock that right out of her!" The woman rumbled a laugh, noting with mild surprise that Hiashi laughed a little along with her. Did having a child really open him up this much?

"I hope so," Hiashi smiled slightly as he opened a door on their right which led into a warm room filled with toys and quietly playing music.

There was a little dark haired girl sat in the lap of Hikari, staring in wonder down at a picture book full of flowers, running her little fingers over them as it she could feel them. Hinata didn't seem to notice them as they entered the room, Tsume setting her pups down onto the floor near some toys and moving over to a chair.

Hikari glanced over to them and gave them a gentle smile as she petted her daughter's hair, who still seemed oblivious as she stared at the flowers with wide pale eyes.

"Hello Tsume-san," Hikari said quietly, smiling benevolently at the dangerous looking woman who immediately offered a smile in return. The Inuzuka clan head liked the dark haired woman, she had a very soothing presence and was ridiculously kind. She could only wait to see the kind of lovely person her daughter was going to be, Tsume could already see the likeness in the small child.

"Hey Hikari-chan, is this Hinata?" The jonin asked, keeping her voice low and smoothing the growly undertones of it the best she could, as not to disturb the atmosphere.

"Ah, yes," The purple haired woman looked back down to her daughter, still running her hands through the soft strands of hair on her head.

"Shes lovely, " Tsume sighed, smiling ruefully at the other woman "I wish my two were as quiet as she is sometimes,"

"She _is_ a quiet child," Smiled Hikari before looking over at the two young boys also sat on the floor with her and Hinata, who were now crawling clumsily towards them.

"Naruto and Kiba?" The other woman asked, smiling to the two little boys who both smiled back with their little fanged grins.

"Yep, the two most troublesome gaki's I have ever had the pleasure to meet," Sighed Tsume before saying a little louder and with more authority "Say hello boys!" The Inuzuka brothers immediately looked up before turning their heads towards Hikari and Hinata.

"Yo!" They both chirped in unison as their mother slapped a palm to her forehead.

_Damn Kakashi and Anko…_

* * *

Today was going to be a curious day.

Today was the day the the Aburames were going to visit the Inuzuka compound for a playdate. The fact of this still stunned Tsume, to think that the stoic, detached and down right _creepy _Aburames were coming over to have a _playdate_ of all things between their respective children still threw the fierce woman for the loop.

The jonin didn't have any problem with the clan, she actually quite liked them. They were direct and blunt, and for better or for worse, Tsume liked it.

She spent way too much time around people and officials that liked to pussyfoot around a subject like a genin on their first kill, and being around the bug using clan was like a breath of fresh air to a starving man.

Tsume had made sure neither Kakashi or Anko were around today, since she couldn't have either of them messing up the opportunity for the clans to become closer and better allies. And knowing them, even if they _didn't _want to mess things up, goddamn _something _would happen and it would all go to hell.

The slit pupiled woman shot a glance over to her two sons as they watched her pace irritatedly around the living room as she waited for the Aburames to arrive. It had been a while since she had gotten so twitchy about something like this.

Kuromaru watched her from his spot on the floor near the and woofed a laugh as he flopped ungracefully onto his side.

"What?" Tsume barked irritably, eyeing the raggedy canine in annoyance as she stopped pacing.

"Look at you, getting so worked up over a playdate of all things," The dark animal snickered as he watched her with his eye, sounding almost droll.

"I'm not getting worked up! This is a very serious situation that could forge a true alliance between two clans!" Tsume tried to sound professional, but even to her she sounded weak.

"Just shut up Kuromaru!" Tsume growled childishly, sounding more like a yappy pup than an influential clan head.

"Ooh, snippy. Is it _that time of the month?" _Kuromaru's muzzle curled at one side in a smirk as he watched Tsume's anger metre skyrocket. The infuriated woman was just about to give her ninken a legendary smackdown as a knock sounded at the front door, causing her to freeze in her place as she turned one mysteriously glowing eye onto her canine companion.

"_You knew," _she hissed, baring her canines in righteous feminine aggression.

"Yep," Kuromaru agreed.

"_BASTAAARD!" _

Naruto and Kiba watched curiously as their mother performed a spectacular smackdown on her ninken and the Aburame appeared in the room, curious to see what all the commotion was about.

"SAY HELLO TO THE FIST OF A THOUSAND RETRIBUTIONS!" Tsume howled as she slammed her fist into Kuromaru's crotch, causing the ninken to bellow in pain.

The two Inuzuka brothers, who were listening curiously immediately chirped in response.

"Yo!"

"AARGH!"

* * *

**Hello!**

**So here you have it, the second chapter of Naruto: Kenjutsu Master!**

**This will be the last chapter of baby Naru-chan, so next time he'll be in the academy, were all the cool ninja stuff happens!**

**As for future reference, I will try to update every week on a Monday. This being said my schedule is pretty sporadic at the best of times as I am a highschool student getting ready for my GCSE's as well as a person with friends and a life (mostly) so if I don't update its most likely because I just haven had the time to write a proper chapter and don't want to leave you with a half-baked piece of writing that probably will not make much sense.**

Okay, so you know the drill!

FOLLOW, FAVOURITE, REVIEW OR ALL THREE IF YOU'RE FEELING ESPECIALLY CHARITABLE TO A LOWLY FANFICTION WRITER SUCH AS ME, SINCE I DON'T GET ANY MONEY OF OFF THIS I THINK A REVIEW IS PROBABLY THE BEST I'M GONNA GET OUT THIS.

Ja ne~


	3. Chapter 003

******Disclaimer: Am I rich? No? Is my name Kishimoto? No? Then I don't own Naruto. Bye**

* * *

**Chapter 3 **

* * *

Konoha was busy, as usual.

Civilians bustled in the streets and market owners boasted of their amazing offers in their loud voices to the passing pedestrians. Horses and carts clattered noisily down the streets, carrying all means of goods and wares, only adding to the almost overwhelming atmosphere that settled like a shroud over the streets as the morning progressed.

But far away from this stood a rather solitary path leading to the ninja Academy, a place for children to polish their ninja skills and become their countries means of security and chess pieces for the wealthy and powerful.

And today, was the graduating day of none other than our very own Naruto Inuzuka.

* * *

Naruto lounged lazily in the sturdy branches of a great tree, well covered by the leaves as not to be spotted by passing civilians. Sun filtered through the thick green canopy surrounding him and casting him in a green glow as he observed the people passing on the street by the Academy, eyes slitted as he clutched a thick leather bound book and pencil, scribbling furiously away and occasionally blowing a few pesky strands of hair from out of his eyes.

The preteen was wearing a light tan trench coat with the Uzumaki crest adorning the back with orange in the seam (which had been a gift from Anko) and a form fitting black turtleneck shirt along with standard shinobi pants also in black. He also had white bandages wrapped around his right calf accompanied by a kunai and shuriken pouch, which he made a paint to keep there at all times.

"Whaddaya think Kanemaru?" The blonde boy asked the ninken perched on his head, lifting the thick book to show the animal the contents eagerly. Naruto could feel the puppy's tail stir in a wag at the back of his neck as he barked in approval. The blue eyed boy hummed and nodded, a grin stretching his lips.

"Ya got good taste!" The whiskered blonde boasted, snapping the book shut and placing the pencil behind his ear, trading it for the senbon resting there and popping the sharp weapon between his sharp teeth.

He had been drawing Kenjutsu stances in full detail, drawing close up examples and diagrams of how the muscles and weapons worked, writing detailed notes and tips for future reference. Most of the thick book was just page after page of Kenjutsu tips and diagrams and how they could be used in combat, all of which were drawn by the young blonde student as he observed the ninja on the training grounds as they sparred.

Naruto had been at this for most of the morning, getting up early so that he could escape Anko-nee and go 'ninja watching', as his mother had worded it on multiple occasions. But for the rather energetic blonde, it was a pastime that helped him to focus and further his knowledge on all that sharp and deadly.

Jiji had given him the empty book as an eleventh birthday present not too long ago, but he had been thrilled. Naruto had immediately started filling it with with drawings of as many Kenjutsu weapons as he could think of (even though he wasn't such a great artist at the start), often going down to the training grounds to watch the ninja that specialized in Kenjutsu and asking endless questions about the weapon they used.

The ninja had often seemed pretty irritated with him at first, but had soon relented when they realised that he wasn't going to go away anytime in the near future without answers. Naruto had been so curious and enthusiastic that they couldn't help but feel a little flattered that he had seemed so passionate about knowing about their weapons, the kid could be a little cute at times after all.

The blue eyed boy glanced up to the sky and noticed the sun indicating that it was half an hour past the time school was supposed to start.

"Oops!" Naruto yelped "Why didn't you tell me Kanemaru? We're gonna be late for the exam!" the blonde tucked his book away into his coat and jumped down from the high branch he was perched on effortlessly and set off at a trot towards the Academy, ignoring the glares many of the civilians were shooting his way with practiced ease.

The orange pawed ninken sighed, he _had _warned his human of the time only to be ignored as the blonde boy concentrated on his drawing determinedly, completely blocking out everything else effortlessly.

When Naruto reached the Academy he was swiftly confronted by an exasperated Iruka and his snickering classmates as he lounged in the window ledge, forgoing the door.

"Why are you late this time Naruto," his teacher sighed, rubbing his fingers over his scar in defeat, waiting for the inevitable excuse.

"Got lost on the road of life Iruka-sensei," Naruto said jovially around his senbon, not ashamed in the slightest. His constant lateness was probably Kakashi's influence, and also his penchant to use any other entrance than doors. A person couldn't spend their entire life being around the silver haired jonin and not have _something _rub off a little onto them. One could only take comfort in the fact that it wasn't his pervertedness.

The blue eyed blonde could hear Sakura hiss in irritation, muttering derogatory comments under her breath, chagrined, finding herself vexed by the whiskered blonde once again and his apparently neverending stupidity.

"Take a seat Naruto," Iruka droned, his voice flat and monotonous but with maybe just a small hint of fondness for his student.

"Sure thing sensei," The ninken toting preteen chirped and he went to go sit between his brother and Shikamaru, leaning back in his chair precariously as he put his arms behind his head, tapping his senbon against his teeth absently.

"Yo bro, Akamaru, Shikamaru~" Naruto singsonged quietly as to not draw attention from Iruka as he began his lecture once again, informing the class that the test would be after lunch and that he was sure everyone would try their best.

"Ugh, _mendokuse_," Shikamaru greeted him sleepily, head cradled in his arms on the desk as he snoozed lightly, one eye opening to look over at the overly cheerful Inuzuka next to him.

"Nice to see you finally showed up, little brother. And here I thought I'd get to tell Kaa-san that you failed the test out of tardiness," KIba sighed in mock disappointment as Akamaru whined sympathetically for his human.

"Ha, yeah right. And I'd be the one to tell her that you failed the test because you're a total loser," Naruto snickered, swiftly dodging a swipe from his brother.

"Oh yeah? Well I'll guess we'll see who's the total loser when you come _dead last_," Kiba taunted his younger brother, teeth bared in a fanged grin of amusement which was quickly matched by Naruto, both leaning forwards in anticipation.

The two brothers were complete opposites, as any person could see just by glancing at them. It was hard to believe they belonged to the same clan, Naruto being adopted or not.

If Kiba was night, Naruto was day. They clashed completely in many aspects other than their personalities, which was the only reason they got along as well as they did. While Kiba had dark brown hair and eyes and a broad stature for his age, Naruto had sunshine blonde hair and intense blue eyes, also being very lean stature-wize. More wiry than anything else.

But their personalities were one and the same, very cheerful and loud - loved to cause a ruckus wherever and whenever they could. Both were very physical, always sparring or wrestling. Tests of strength, dares, you name it. They liked to be the centre of attention, good or bad.

They both sat back in their seats, staring to the front of the classroom and impatiently waiting for the lecture to finish so that they could chat freely.

The next hour and a half passed in it's usual fashion, Choji munching on his chips, Sakura and Ino fawning over their beloved '_Sasuke-kun_' who pointedly ignored them as he stared vaguely out of the window, Shikamaru snoozed on his desk, a blushing Hinata watched Naruto from a safe distance while steepling her index fingers together and the Inuzuka brothers caused a ruckus, squabbling and firing spitballs at various targets.

Most of them being Sasuke, much to his groupies ire.

When Iruka finally called time for a break everyone was all too eager to escape the classroom as they stampeded into the play area, immediately claiming their usual spots as they all chatted animatedly.

Sasuke took up his post in a tall tree, staring broodingly from his usual branch as the loud chirpings of fangirls serenaded him with their breathy '_kyaa_' '_kyaa' _'s and squeals from down below.

Naruto's group consisted of his brother, Shikamaru, Shino, Chouji and Hinata, all of which sat in a small cluster on the grass beneath the shade of a willow tree.

"Morning you guys!" Naruto said cheerily, putting Kanemaru on his lap as he sat down heavily between Shikamaru and Hinata, the latter blushing heatedly as she looked away from the object of her rather obvious affections.

"Morning Hinata!" But of course rather obvious just wasn't going to cut it when it came to Naruto, it seemed as Hinata fainted dead on the spot.

"Ah… She did it again" Mumbled the whiskered blonde, scratching the back of his head perplexedly. Most of the group sweatdropped as they watched the slightly dumb blonde try to revive Hinata in vain.

"For being such a genius with Kenjutsu you sure are a total idiot at everything else," Kiba sighed was he observed the tragic scene before him, feeling slightly disappointed in his brother.

"Thanks!" Naruto accepted the compliment, but the rest of the sentence seemed to go completely over his little blonde head. Shino patted Kiba's shoulder as he almost fell over in despair.

The rest of the break passed in a similar fashion and lessons continued as usual until lunch ended and the tests began.

"Okay class, please line up outside the door and wait until we call your name. No pushing or fighting as we are now in test conditions," Mizuki warned sternly, eyes resting on Naruto for a half a second longer than the other students before calling out the first name as disappeared into the exam room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Excitement thrummed through Naruto at warp speed as what he was about to do dawned on him.

_If he passed this test, he would finally become an official ninja. _

That thought lodged itself at the forefront of his mind, causing a huge smile to split his face and his eyes to burn with fire. It was all finally becoming reality for him, in a mere hour he will have passed the test and then he would be put in his team. No doubt with the strongest people in his class, and then he would be out in the field beating up enemy nin and bandits and doing escort missions for princesses and becoming the most respected ninja in Konohagakure!

The more logical side of Naruto tried to reason that it wouldn't all happen in a day and that he would have to work for his victory but it was quickly shushed by the fanatical side, its eyes shining deliriously as chibi Naruto's hand formed a fist and pumped it towards the sky, drool slowly slipping down his chin.

"Um, Naruto you got a little..." Chouji tapped his chin to try show that the whiskered blonde was salivating as his eyes stared off into the unknown distance hazily. Waving his hands in front of the blue eyed preteen did very little to break him from his fantasy.

While academically, Naruto was definitely not the brightest student, when put in a situation better suited to his skills… He could become an absolute genius when the circumstance called for it.

This had been first noticed by Iruka when Naruto was in his first year of the Academy, the blonde had been completely unable to study during class but during sparring and weapons practice, when backed into a corner… He could perform some ingenious heat of the moment on the fly tactics that even seasoned ninja couldn't pull off in the heat of the moment. His dexterity with weapons was prodigious for someone his age.

He was the type of kid that would come around once every few years that would be a genius in one field, completely blowing everyone their age out of the water, their skill level would be so advanced that they could give a chunin a run for their money. It was often at that age that their future specialisation had become clear, and for Naruto with his competence in weapons a career in assassination or perhaps espionage were not off the table.

When Naruto's name finally got called near the very end the blonde was immediately at attention, standing up straight and head held high with his ninken perched expertly atop it.

"C'mon Kanemaru, let's ace this stupid test!"

* * *

"_Fishcake~!" _ Anko cheered as the caught Naruto in a full body tackle, pinning them both down on the floor "Oh I'm so proud of you, yes I am~!" the buxom jonin pressed his face into her ungodly huge assets as he struggled for breath, unaware of the jealous looks he was currently being shot from passers by as his airways were smothered by the overzealous brunette.

But his survival instincts soon kicked in as his experience in the sort of field surfaced as he held his breath and stopped moving, waiting for his attacker to realise he wasn't moving and leave him alone as he was no longer live prey. Naruto had learned from a very young age that Anko was instinctually drawn to fast moving/struggling objects and once she latched on, she wouldn't let go. Kind of like the Boa Constrictors she liked to play with sometimes.

Eventually the older woman let go and he was free to breathe, which he was thankful for because his ramen was going to cold. The blonde shot a reproachful look at Kanemaru, who had just sat on the stool next to his and watched him get smothered.

"Traitor," The blonde grumbled to the smug looking ninken and resumed eating his ramen, which was actually quite difficult while pouting.

He had passed the test and had come to Ichiraku for some celebratory ramen, he had been completely overjoyed at his passing and had immediately tied his new hitai-ate around his neck, where it now rested neatly.

Ayame had congratulated him as soon as she had caught sight of his headband and immediately began the preparation for making him a jumbo bowl of beef ramen on the house as Teuchi chatted to him cheerily, also saying his congratulations.

In the genin exam there had been a test for Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Kenjutsu (with basic weapons such as shuriken and kunai).

Naruto had passed the Taijutsu exam with ease, the blonde had been training with Kakashi-nii and Gai since he was six years old, compared to _their _training methods the Academy had been a breeze. Also, if he didn't do well in Taijutsu, he knew for a fact that his mother would subject him to a week of solid Taijutsu training with Gai, _alone. _Without Kakashi there to help regulate Gai's questionable training methods, the whiskered blonde knew that he probably wouldnt last very long, even with his fast regeneration speed.

Ninjutsu had been a bit more of a task at the beginning, seeing as he just _couldn't _get down the bunshin technique at all. It just didn't work, he would form the seals, yell the technique name and nothing. Iruka said that he was using too much chakra, but the blonde had cut down his chakra to the smallest portion he could manage and it still wouldn't do squat. Anko and Kakashi had been confused also but his mother had seemed to understand. She had told him that his chakra reserves were just too large to perform small scale ninjutsu like the bunshin, even when he used the smallest amount of power he could he would still overpower the technique.

Naruto had actually felt quite smug at this until Tsume had sent him off to do some intensive training with Anko for three days to try salvage some kind of supremacy over his ridiculous chakra control. He had come back beaten, bruised and completely drained and _still _couldn't do the bunshin technique.

He had told the old man this the next time he went to visit after his chakra training camp and had received one the best lessons he had ever been given to this day.

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_** (Shadow Clone Jutsu) **in simple terms, was basically a power up from the bunshin technique, consuming much more chakra than its weaker brother jutsu and in return making solid clones that could store memories and upon dispersing the memories would be transferred back to the chakra's original owner's mind, it could also deal real damage upon an enemy but would disperse after one solid hit.

And thanks to this technique he had managed to pass the Ninjutsu exam with high honours once Iruka had pointed out exactly what the technique was.

Naruto had almost failed completely with Genjutsu though, he could only really expel a mirage with any efficiency, when it came to weaving a genjutsu… Zero, Zilch. Wasn't going to happen. Though he did manage to score a decent amount of points in his dispersing, it only just managed to pass him by the skin of his teeth.

But the Kenjutsu exam had been ridiculously easy by his standards, the blonde could have passed that test by the time he was five with full marks. All it had been was hitting the vital points on a paper targets anatomy system with accuracy using kunai and shuriken, both multiple and single. It had been almost laughable to the blue eyed boy.

After all his marks had been tallied up, Iruka had bestowed his head protector to him with a huge smile and a boisterous ruffle of his hair as he enthusiastically congratulated him and welcomed him to the ranks of Konoha's ninja.

Naruto could easily say it would remain one of his favourite memories for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile… Anko was crying.

"Aww~ Fishcake is growing up… Can I dress you up again for old times sake?" The jonin perked up a little, hopefully.

_For old times sake… She still does it! _Inner Naruto said incredulously. And it was true.

The buxom brunette, still to this very day, would ambush Naruto at arbitrary points during a day and try to force him into some kind of ridiculous outfit for her own perverted pleasure at a seventy percent success rate. He already had approximately four albums filled with pictures of him in absurd getups for over the years, it was a pretty huge point of embarrassment for the blonde.

"Hell no!" The whiskered blonde barked in response, which his ninken echoed, while eyeing Anko wearily, muscles tensed for a quick getaway just in case.

"But-!"

"Nuh-uh," The blue eyed blonde shook his head vehemently.

"But Naru-chaaan~" The older brunette bleated, body wiggling in indignation as she pouted at her otouto, who now just ignored her as he went back to his ramen.

"Leave him Anko. If you want to dress him up you'll have to drug him later," The familiar lazy drawl of Kakashi hit his ears as the silver haired jonin suddenly appeared on the empty stool next to the dango loving jonin, not looking at them with his orange book in hand. Anko immediately perked up.

"Hey! Don't give her ideas Kaka-nii!" Naruto yelped and he glared balefully over at the scarecrow ninja.

"But you look so cute in a kimono!" Kakashi sighed, pausing to look away from his Icha Icha and to the blonde preteen imploringly.

_Kaka-nii is just as much of a super pervert as Anko is, _Naruto recalled as his head thunked down onto the wooden stall table of Ichiraku's.

What did he do to deserve this kind of punishment? Did he kill puppies in a past life or something? Naruto thought about this for a little while while finishing off his ramen and doing his best to ignore his perverted older siblings as they disputed over which would be cuter - a nun outfit or a kitten outfit.

"Ah," Kakashi turned to Naruto suddenly, as if recalling something "I came here to bring you back to the compound. Your kaa-san knew that Anko wouldn't finish the job,"

"Okay Kaka-nii," The blonde sing songed as he lifted the jumbo bowl of ramen to his lips, gulping down the still hot broth eagerly before slamming the bowl back down onto the table as he breathed out long and slow.

"Thanks Teuchi-jiji, Ayame-nee!" Naruto called, popping his senbon back into his mouth as he scooped up Kanemaru and set off home. The Inuzuka compound was a while away from the Konoha centre so the blonde decided a little speed would be in order.

The whiskered blonde crouched low, building up the tension in his legs before executing a chakra enhanced leap onto the nearest roof, and setting off at a moderate speed as he bounded from roof to roof with practiced ease, his trench coat flaring out behind as the wind buffeted against him.

Naruto simply basked in the feeling of the wind whistling past his ears and blowing his shaggy hair back from his eyes until his home brimmed on the horizon. Roofs and housed gradually morphed into trees and grassy plains as he slowed.

He bypassed the guards with a cheery smile and a small flare of his chakra, just vaulting over the gate instead of waiting for them to open it and proceeding into his home and setting Kanemaru down.

Naruto paused at the suspicious lack of sound and movement in his house, he took a slow, deep breath from his nose, inhaling all possible scents of danger before moving further into the compound on silent feet.

He soon came to the living room door which was left slightly ajar, the blonde listened intently before taking another sniff.

Suddenly a grin lit his face as he slammed the door open and flicked on the lights.

"CONGRATS NARUTO!" The two words were yelled at him by a medley of friends and family, all gathered in his front room. His mother, Kiba, Hana, Gai, Asuma, Kurenai, the (talking) ninken (the rest just kind of bayed) and Kakashi and Anko, who had just come up behind him, were all grouped together in a grinning mass.

"Hey guys," The, now slightly blushing, blonde gave a little wave after he recovered from his momentary stupor.

"Well done, my trainee of YOUTH!" Gai patted him hard on the back with a flash of his sparkly good guy grin "You have passed the first hurdle of YOUTH, and now you can only go YOUTHFULLY forwards, and perhaps even surpass me!" Gai actually managed to keep his voice down to a dull roar, only messing up on the multiple 'YOUTH's. It was quite an achievement.

Naruto was about to thank Gai as suddenly the weight of each of his limbs increased suddenly, all four of his limbs were now decorated with dark black guards, weighing them down as the blonde struggled to move properly.

"A gift!" The spandex wearing jonin gave him a thumbs up as the rest of the ninja in the room watched in amusement when the preteen struggled to move, almost falling over a few times as he got used to the added weight on his body.

"Uh, thanks Gai-sensei," Naruto replied hesitantly, unsure what exactly the 'gift' was.

"They're chakra weights, the more chakra you push into them, the heavier the become! See?" The dark haired man placed a finger to the guard on his right arm, which instantaneously began to increase in weight and pull him down to the floor despite his best efforts to stay upright.

The people in the room couldn't help but laugh as they watched the blonde was inevitably pulled all the way down to the floor as the heaviness of the weights became too much for his muscles to withstand.

"Thats great Gai-sensei, but how do I make them lighter?" Naruto groaned from his place on the floor, looking doubly aggrieved.

"Make the handseal _inu _and yell 'KAI' with all of your YOUTHFUL glory!" The spandex sporting jonin heaved a great laugh, flashing the downed preteen another thumbs up.

"Gai-sensei," Naruto intervened, he would have pinched the bridge of his nose if he could move his arms "I don't know if you noticed, but I can't move my arms," The Inuzuka growled, letting his head thump back onto the floor. For a hardened jonin, Gai sure could be a total airhead sometimes.

"THEN I WILL HELP YOU, MY YOUNG TRAINEE!" Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast bellowed and his hands hurriedly formed the handseal and yelled 'KAI' loud enough to wake the first Hokage.

"Thank you Gai-sensei," The blonde replied dutifully as he stood up, dusting himself off and quickly setting the weights on a near by table so that the former predicament would not be repeated. And knowing his family, it probably would.

Naruto received multiple gifts from the people crowded into his living room - a Tambo from his mother, a Kusarigama from Hana, a pair of Trench Knives from Asuma, a Tessen from Kurenai, a Tanto from Kakashi and a _whip_ from Anko. Figures..

These were all weapons that Naruto had pined over for a long time, he had begged and pleaded for them ever since the first time he'd passed the shinobi weapons store in the village centre at the tender age of five.

But Tsume, being the protective mother she was had denied him them until he came of age, causing the chibi blonde to sulk for a number of days until being bribed out him room with copious amounts of ramen and pointy things.

A Tambo was a small hardwood staff, this one was about as long as his forearm and made out of ebony. It didn't look overly suspicious to the untrained eye as all it really looked like was a dark stick, nothing dangerous like a sword or knife, this meant that it could be easily hidden and also catch people unaware. It was an all around weapon that could be used for offence and defense.

The main targets for this weapon were widely varied and incredibly versatile. Attacks could be aimed at the top and back of the head, collarbone, hands, elbows, ribs, hip, kneecaps, and calves. The throat, eyes and groin areas were also main targets for this weapon. Just thinking about it made Naruto feel all warm and fuzzy best weapon was an unassuming weapon after all.

A Kusarigama was a lot more dangerous looking than a Tambo. It was a sickle-like weapon with a thick weighted chain attached to the end, it would make any person be on high alert at just one glance, but the efficiency of the weapon would even out the odds pretty well. It would be very hard to dodge as the chain and the length of the pole added a range of short and long distance attacks that could potentially very hard to avoid. It could be used against weapon wielders and Taijutsu using opponents.

Trench Knives, however, could be infused with the chakra of the wielder to cause devastating effects on the opponent and could also make the blade sharper. They were to be worn like brass knuckles and could be used with Taijutsu. They were incredibly potent weapons and knowing he was in possession of them made the blonde want to almost sing. He could hardly wait until he was able to start training with them.

The Tessen, was another quite unassuming weapon. It was a fan that could be was made out of metal and could be used as a defense mechanism used to trap bladed between its folds, and when the edges were sharpened, a blade of its own. It could also be used to fend off long range attacks from weapons like arrows (If it was large enough) and whips.

The Tanto was a dagger-like weapon, being mainly used for stabbing, could could also be used for slashing given the very sharp blade. This one was double edged and looked surprisingly ornamental.

And then, of course, the _whip. _Naruto really wasn't sure where Anko was going with this, but the blonde could see its uses. It was quite long and made out of sturdy leather, it even had a metal tip. It could be used for disarming an opponent and could cause quite a lot of pain, it could even be used for strangulation now that the blonde thought about it.

Naruto was beside himself, so many new weapons to play with!

Everyone in the near vicinity to the blonde was suddenly overcome with a feeling of dread as a decidedly evil purple began to seep into the air around the genin as he hugged all his new weapons close and he began to whisper softly to them, stroking their gleaming surfaces lovingly as his eyes shone manically.

Kanemaru was seeming unperturbed as he sat next to his human, cheerfully panting. He was most likely used to this by now, Naruto always got like this when he received a new weapon or spent a day just polishing them all. It would just take too much energy to be wary of the blonde every single time he went a little weapon crazy. It happened pretty often.

Soon everyone was tired and eager to go home and to their beds.

Once the Inuzuka's had seen everyone out of their home, they wished each other their goodnights and went to sleep themselves.

Naruto and Kiba slowly trudged up the stairs together, both exhausted from the excitement of graduation and the after parties that came along with them. Kiba had had his before Naruto had come home, having had his test earlier than his brother and going straight home, whereas the blonde had gone to get some ramen and talk with Teuchi-jiji and Ayame.

"Its weird, huh?" The blue eyed blonde murmured as they carried on through the hallways and to their adjacent rooms "Finally out of the Academy,"

"Yeah," Kiba confirmed, also keeping his voice hushed "Finally genin," The brunette gave a soft chuckle tinged with disbelief.

Silence hung not uncomfortably between them both as they let it sink in, stood outside their rooms in companionable quiet. Naruto opened the door to his room and entered, hearing his brother do they same as he stripped himself of his clothes, hanging his coat over his chair and changing into his sleepwear. Soft pajama bottoms, preferring to leave his chest bare.

Then the blonde and his ninken exited their room and entered the neighbouring chamber. Kiba said nothing as his blonde brother clambered into bed with him, simply choosing to accept the warmth and company. Kanemaru and Akamaru curled up at the end of the bed, falling asleep quickly as their breathing evened out.

Naruto buried his face into this brother's neck as they pressed close, savoring the heat and quickly falling into a peaceful slumber, closely resembling puppies as they slept slightly on top of each other.

This was a common thing between the Inuzukas, similar to when a pack of dogs will sleep in a big pile close to eachother. It was a familial bonding exercise, creating a very close knit union between family members and becoming something comforting. Something like this was needed to counter the taxing effects on ones mind that being a ninja spawned, for all the blood and pain that they had to go through, a release was often direly needed by many.

And for the Inuzuka, being surrounded by the sounds and smells of one's home and those close to you was the best medicine. This was the reason why the clan was so close knit and worked so well as a unit.

So the Inuzuka brothers slept, bodies preparing for the drama that was sure to happen tomorrow when the genin teams were chosen.

* * *

"Gonna be the best, YEAH! Gonna be the best, YEAH! Gonna gonna gonna gonna gonna be the best, YEAAAAH!" Naruto cheered as he dressed for the day, pulling on his coat and boots, tieing his hitai-ate around his neck as his senbon was placed between his teeth.

It was early in the morning, six, and had about three hours before he had to be at the Academy. He had decided to be an early bird and get some practice in before he was put in his team. The blonde had to wonder who he would be put with though, would he be put with his brother? That would be one heck of a tracking team. Or Shikamaru? Almost definitely espionage or possibly tracking too.

There were just too many combinations! Naruto could only hope he didn't get put in with anyone lame. Like Sasuke-teme or one of his fangirls. The blonde shuddered at the thought. That'd be _awful!_

The blonde shook his head of the thoughts and jumped from his bedroom window, Kanemaru in his trench coat, landing two stories below without injury and taking to the trees, moving quickly as he headed towards the training grounds.

Since his home was surrounded by forest, it also meant that it was an ideal place for training grounds, and almost as soon as he made it off of his compound's land and straight into a clearing with a few wooden poles at the centre.

But instead of going further into the clearing Naruto sat himself down on the branch he was stood on, leaning back against the thick trunk and folding his legs under him and placing his ninken in his lap.

The blonde let himself relax as his head tilted back to rest on the rough bark of the tree, taking slow deep breaths as his mind began to float away from reality in meditation, letting the whispering trees guide him into a state of relaxation as his muscles went lax.

Naruto had gotten into the habit of meditating for a while before he began training when he was around nine years old, finding it easier to understand and remember techniques after clearing his mind. He had gotten the suggestion from Kurenai, who at his demand had taught him the basics of meditation after he had been complaining it was hard to remember certain things after training.

The blonde had never really been very book smart after all, his main source of learning was always hands on training, his teachers finding it easier to beat the reactions into his body than try to explain it. And it had worked. Naruto learned by instruction and example.

Although thats not to say that book examples were completely out of his reach, if he really put his mind to it Naruto could learn something and execute the desired result in a fraction of the time the technique was normally mastered in.

Like _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_** (Shadow Clone Jutsu) **for example. The Third hadn't even bothered to try and explain it to the blonde after giving Naruto the scroll containing the instructions for the jutsu. But the Sandaime had issued the blonde a challenge almost, deliberately undermining the blonde in order to get him fired up and determined.

And so, the ten year old had learned the technique in less than a day. It had completely baffled most people who knew the blonde, but the Hokage had just smiled knowingly as if he had known that it would happen.

The old man wasn't the Third Hokage for no reason after all, Naruto supposed.

Air rushed into his lungs, in, out, in out. The backs of his eyelids covering his vision as all the sweet smells of the forest filled his nose. Pine, Cedar, Birch, Oak, soil, bark, moss, fern, wildflowers. All of them filling his body to the brim before he slowly breathed out in release and opened his eyes.

He squinted at the harsh light of the sun that fought its way through the leafy canopy surrounding him as he broke from his meditation. His body felt calmer and less sleepy and his mind more focused.

He jumped down from his tree and proceeded to the centre of the clearing, a few metres from the posts, and formed the handseal for _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_** (Shadow Clone Jutsu) **and called the technique name.

Over fifty puffs of smoke billowed into being all over the clearing, leaving behind many clones of Naruto, all either grinning cheerily or quickly making mischief and teasing the other doppelgangers, causing small brawls to break out.

_I really need to stop picking fights with myself, _the blond mused as he called for order.

"Okay Guys, so you know the drill. Everything is permitted, try have fun, yadda yadda yadda, _let the Battle Royale commence!" _Naruto howled, Kanemaru quickly appearing at his side as his clones came at him at once, yelling various war cries as a swarm of projectile weapons were launched at him in a volley of lovely pointiness.

"_Jūjin Taijutsu Ōgi: Gatsūga _**(Beast Human Taijutsu: Fang Passing Fang)**," The blonde growled, both himself and his ninken beginning to spin and launch themselves forward, dodging the shuriken and kunai and directly assaulting the first line of shadow clones, dispelling them quickly as both of the Inuzuka tore into the doppelgangers.

When Naruto ended the jutsu he and Kanemaru were quickly attacked once again, clones rushing forwards and combatting them with Taijutsu, Kenjutsu and Ninjutsu galore, trying to force the pair back and catch them unaware so that they could swarm in, metaphorical guns blazing.

The duo only fought back harder, Naruto barraging them with hard kicks and punches and dodging when possible while Kanemaru ripped into the shadow clones with whatever he had. But whatever Naruto had, the clones had too, all sides received damage, the clones being depleted at a fast rate while Naruto and Kanemaru accumulated a vast array of bruises and cuts.

After another twenty minutes of the fight, the last of the shadow clones were dispersed and the duo had won. Naruto was slightly winded, nowhere near tired and neither was his ninken. Kanemaru, after spending the last five years with his human had slowly built up his stamina to match his partner's, even at the age of seven Naruto had been a stamina monster. It took a lot to tire the jailer of the Kyuubi after all.

The blonde rolled his shoulders, shoulders a little sore from all the bruises that were already beginning to heal, smiling in an upbeat manner down at his companion.

"Whaddaya say? Another couple of rounds before we hit the Academy?"

"Arf!" Kanemaru agreed, his orange tipped tail wagging eagerly.

* * *

Over an hour and a half later a blonde haired boy and his orange and white dappled ninken lay despondently at the centre of a clearing, breathing hard as they tried to get enough oxygen into their bodies to see properly.

"So.. _haah, hahh, _think we're done for the day?" Naruto rasped, wishing desperately for a nice long drink of water as his body ached and throat clicked dryly.

"Arf.." Kanemaru agreed weakly, his tongue lolling onto the ground.

"We better… _haah, _get going. We gotta be at the Academy in.._haah,_ ten minutes," The blonde reminded the ninken and he slowly got to his feet, swaying slightly.

"Arf…" the dog sighed, looking up at his human imploringly, amber eyes wide.

"But I guess a snooze couldn't hurt… It'll only take us two minutes to get to the.. _haah,_ Academy, right? We'll get there on time.. _haah_, no sweat" Naruto flopped to the grassy ground with a loud snore, drool already forming in a puddle beneath his head.

And it was safe to say that _no, _they wouldn't get there on time.

* * *

**A: This chapter was brought to you fueled by nth amounts of tea, junk food and pure determination.**

**I spent the majority of this chapter crying about life to my mother's boyfriends son and having small midlife crisis's. Yes, trauma at it's finest. Also all my mother's boyfriend's son did was play me really cool rock music with amazing guitar solos from his computer.**

**It was a dark time.**

**I'm thrilled that you guys have been so supportive! I honestly didn't think i'd get as many favorites, follows and reviews as I did, so thanks!**

**And now to the oncoming pandemic:**

**DO I KEEP THE ORIGINAL TEAMS?!**

**I have been thinking about this so hard and argh, I just want some input from you lovely people. I have some vague idea where I might go with this story now, so I'm a little more confident in that aspect but I just want a little help from you guys with this.**

**So, this chapter is unbeta-ed, any offers to help tame my terrible grammar and spelling? -bats lashes coquettishly-**

**You guys are fabulous and I love you all, so you know what to do, Favourite, Follow, Review, just show me some love, okay?**


	4. Chapter 004

******Disclaimer: Am I rich? No? Is my name Kishimoto? No? Then I don't own Naruto. Bye**

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**Chapter 4**

* * *

Iruka stared up at the clock at the back of his classroom pensively and watched as second after second ticked by, getting steadily closer to half past nine which was the time the Genin would be told their unit.

It was the day that the newly passed Genin would be put in their three man cell, but, sticking to his Hatake Kakashi induced nature, Naruto was late. Iruka knew that the blonde would probably show up just in time for their teams and Jōnin sensei to be given, but that didn't stop him from worrying.

A small part of him was fretting incessantly and insisting that the young Inuzuka wasn't going to show, now Iruka was getting stressed. It was a wonder, really that the brunette had not started going grey prematurely or getting stress induced panic attacks. The Chūnin just took it as natural ninja fortification against that sort of thing, or something like that anyway.

When he had asked Kiba about his brother's whereabouts the brunette had just shrugged and said that "He'd probably get here on time". Not that that helped Iruka's state of mind at all.

The Chūnin teacher palmed his face as he heaved a long sigh.

_Naruto, you're gonna be the death of me I swear.__ H_e thought, sitting heavily down on his chair behind his desk.

But the clock, heedless of the situation continued it infernal ticking, symbolising the passing of time as the time for the teams to be read out drew ever closer. The class were all chatting amongst themselves, also looking back to the clock every now and again in anticipation, eager to be put into their teams.

And soon enough the Jōnin sensei's all appeared in a large swirl of leaves next the Iruka, immediately catching the whole room's attention and causing excited whispers to flood the Academy room.

_Or,_the brunette haired Chūnin thought dryly, _all the Jōnin sensei's apart from one Kakashi the Copy Nin._

Like his adopted Ani-san, the silver haired ninja was late. Iruka couldn't help but think back to when he had first met Naruto and his perverted Aniki.

* * *

_An eighteen year old Umino Iruka had just exited the weapons store, hands full with a few bags of ninja wire and kunai, not having enough space to store them in his weapons pouches, and feeling quite pleased with the bargain he had just scored._

_Just as he turned onto the street something small but solid pushed all the air from his lungs as he bumped into it. The brunette almost dropped the goods he was carrying in surprise, before quickly moving the bags that were disrupting his line of vision to get a good look at what he had bumped into._

_Iruka jumped and stared dumbly at the Kyuubi container which stared back up at him, seemingly nonplussed at the adult who had just almost run him over._

_"__Are you okay? I didn't hurt you did I?" Iruka hesitated before asking, feeling unsure in the presence of the young Jinchuuriki who was now pouting cutely up at him, a small dog by his side._

_"I'm__ fine Onii-san, you gotta look where you're going though. You're just lucky that I'm so big and strong," The blonde emphasised this with an over dramatic flexing of his non-existent muscles in a typical muscle man pose. A small fluffy orange and white puppy with cute little box ears yapped in agreement with the small boy._

_Realisation dawned on the Chūnin that the boy was an Inuzuka, now that he thought about it he did remember the rumours that Tsume Inuzuka had adopted the Jinchuuriki into her family. But if that was so, why was the boy outside a weapon shop alone?_

_Was it standard procedure for the Inuzuka to let their children run wild?_

_"__I'll be sure to do that," The brunette laughed warmly "What's your name?"_

_"I'm__ Naruto Inuzuka, 'ttebayo!" Naruto said, giving him a thumbs up and a little fanged grin which seemed to almost twinkle. The pose reminded Iruka of a certain obnoxious Jōnin that he couldn't exactly put a name to off the top of his head.._

_But then the Chūnin's eyes went straight to the fangs, mind freezing as he was reminded of what the small boy carried. But as soon as it came the brunette shook it off, he had told himself many times over that he wouldn't be as closed minded as most of the villagers._

_Iruka had read up as much as he could with his limited access to Konoha's data banks on what being a Jinchuuriki entailed. The human that the demons were sealed into, were not themselves the demon, only a container. Like a jar was not the contents inside it._

_The brunette also had his faith in the Fourth Hokage. No matter what anyone said, the Fourth had been the most powerful ninja the entire of Fire country until the time of his death. Iruka would not disrespect the Yondaime in such a way as to not believe in his Fuinjutsu, which he had mastered so completely as to be called the best Sealing Master in the whole of the Elemental Nations._

_"__Well I'm Umino Iruka. Nice to meet you Inuzuka-kun," The scarred nin smiled down at the whiskered boy before him._

_"__And this is Kanemaru, he's my ninken! Say 'hi' Kanemaru," Naruto enthused before looking down at his puppy, who immediately gave a bark, which Iruka interpreted as a 'Hello'._

_"__Hello to you too Kanemaru-kun," The brunette smiled down at the small dog, which nodded in return. Iruka was not as dumb as to believe that the Inuzuka ninken were not intelligent. After they reached a certain age they could even talk! Not only that but they could perform amazing techniques with their masters that could easily bring down a large multitude of opponents in a very short amount of time, which made them invaluable on the battlefield._

_"__Hey Naruto-kun, you're not causing any trouble for this nice man are you?" The scarred teen looked up in surprise to find Hatake Kakashi a few metres away, orange book in hand as he watched him with one curious dark eye._

_"__Nu-uh Kaka-Ani, he's the one who bumped into me!"_

_Iruka couldn't contain his blush as the silver haired ninja looked him over and gave him a wry eye smile._

_"__Yeah," The brunette Chūnin said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head "It really was my fault, for a ninja I'm pretty clumsy,"_

_"__Maa, maa, don't sweat it. Naru-chan is okay so I have no problem," Kakashi waved the sentence away absently, getting distracted by the blonde child that was now tugging insistently at his pants and pointing towards the weapons store window and to the arsenal inside._

_"__Kaka-Ani, can you get me that tantō yet? It looks so _dangerous,"_The small blonde seemed to salivate at the last word, his blue eyes getting dreamy and a small line of drool slipped down his chin._

_"__When you're older otouto, if your Kaa-san knew I gave you a tantō she'd feed me to her ninken for supplement!"_

_"What does supplement mean Kaka-Ani?" Iruka smiled as he was forgotten about and began to walk away, mind filled with Naruto and Kakashi as they continued their innocent conversation in front of the weapons store, ignoring the harsh glares of passers by effortlessly, both in their own little world._

_[]_

The Academy room was still bustling with excited children, eager to know which Jōnin sensei and them that they would be assigned to.

The scarred teacher glanced upwards in despair before calling the class to order, noting with mild amusement as the immediately went silent, their faces shining almost feverishly in their anticipation.

_The best I can do now was read Naruto's team last…_Iruka mused with mild irritation as he cleared his throat.

"Okay, so Team Ten, Sasuke, Chōji and Kiba under the Jōnin Asuma," Two resounding groans, two angry yells and the continuous sounds of munching on snacks echoes through the Academy room, Kiba banged his head quite loudly on the desk before him and Sasuke stared incredulously at Iruka in a surprising display of emotion. Chōji, on the other hand, didn't seem to care in the slightest and just continued to fill his cheeks with food. Sakura and Ino were mourning over the loss of the chance to be on Sasuke's Team and finally become the kunoichi of the stoic raven's dreams.

Even Asuma looked over to him in confusion, most likely because the Ino-Shika-Cho formation had been broken. It was a well made system and the three balanced each other out quite nicely, as it had been proved by their parents, Iruka also couldn't really understand where the Hokage was going this either.

Why break a perfectly tuned machine and distribute the pieces where they couldn't be properly used?

The brunette Chūnin looked at the three Genin with speculative eyes as he tried to understand the Sandaime's reasons for the switch around. An Inuzuka, an Akimichi and the last Uchiha? It was an odd cell, that was certain.

"Team Eight, Hinata, Sakura and Shino under the Jōnin Kurenai," There was a resigned sigh from Sakura as she palmed her face in defeat. She was doomed to a future with the creepy bug boy and the stuttering loner. Great.

Hinata felt her hopes splatter onto the cold pavement of life and get trampled on repeatedly by the Fates. She wouldn't get placed with Naruto. Shino just sat in his seat stoically, staring blankly forwards. He really didn't seem to care.

Iruka really didn't know where the Hokage was going with these cell pairings, did he have some kind of secret agenda? Probably.

He noted that Kurenai actually looked quite pleased with her team. The teacher wasn't sure if that was a bad thing or a good thing though.

Also the two girls and one boy pairing was quite rare to find, it was usually the opposite with two boys and one girl. The scarred Chūnin felt himself become honestly confused as he allowed himself the smallest shake of his head in disbelief. Was the Hokage going senile?

"And the final team," Iruka sighed as he glanced towards the window in a final attempt to wish Naruto into being and have him stroll in just on time to not make a bad impression on his Jōnin sensei. Which was probably pointless since his Jōnin sensei was late also. "Is Ino, Shikamaru and-"

**SMASH!**

The room of Genin jumped violently as one Mitarashi Anko smashed completely through one the Academy windows and onto an empty desk with a devilishly happy grin, three sticks of dango in one hand and a bundle of papers in the other.

"Anko-san… What in Kami's name are you doing?" Kurenai asked her friend incredulously, red eyes wide in surprise as the buxom brunette jumped off of the desk she was stood on and shoved the papers in Kurenai's face with a_'__read 'em and weep__'_ smile.

Kurenai wasn't exactly sure what she was looking at for a few seconds before her eyes caught on the large red _APPROVED_stamp on a lot of writing which she quickly skimmed through with her keen eyes before looking up at Anko in horror.

"Are you kidding me?"

"What?" Asuma looked over the dark haired woman's shoulder at the document before breaking out into uncontrolled laughter, his eyes even teared up a little in mirth.

"What does it say?" Iruka asked warily, uncertain if he really wanted to know as he stared at the evilly smiling Jōnin at the front of his classroom. The rest of the Genin looked on curiously as the drama unfolded before them like some kind of soap opera.

"Yeah, what does it say?" Two voices chirped from either side of Iruka.

The Chūnin rubbed a hand over his scar as his eyes closed in defeat. He was too old for this job and he was only twenty-three.

Kakashi and Naruto were stood on either side of the exhausted Academy teacher, both in identical poses of one hand cupping their chins, one hand on their hips and their legs crossed. Naruto's tongue was sticking out to the side doltishly and Iruka was sure Kakashi would be doing the same if he could see his face. Even Kanemaru was sat by Naruto's feet with his eyes slitted and tongue sticking out.

"That I have permission from the Hokage to be your team's co-captain!" Anko cheered ebulliently, thrusting her fists into the air, one hand still holding her dango.

"Oh cool," Naruto said absently, nodding and turning away as if to go find his seat in the class before freezing completely and slowly turning back the buoyant Jōnin (who was now eating her dango). "Sorry, I'm sure I heard you wrong, but did you say…?"

"That I'm co-captaining your team? Yep," The dango loving brunette's words were muffled for all of the junk food stuffed in her cheeks as she perched herself on Iruka's desk, legs swinging. The rest of the class seemed to stare on as the drama slowly began to unfold. Who needed Tv when you were in Naruto Inuzuka's class?

Kakashi, on the other hand, looked pleasantly surprised, probably because his partner in perving was now helping him train the object of their perviness.

"Really? Awesome, now we have more time together to plan Naru-chan's next costume~" The blonde's body wobbled precariously as his legs threatened to give out in undiluted horror, he knew it.

"Ahem," Iruka interrupted his thoughts, which were now in a downwards spiral as he sunk in despair "As I was saying, Team Seven is Ino, Shikamaru and Naruto under the Jōnin's Kakashi and Anko," The brunette seemed to have given up as he slowly walked from the classroom muttering something about being too old and sleep.

* * *

Naruto sat down next to Shikamaru with a foxy grin. Most of the room had been vacated other than his team and Jōnin sensei(s), Kiba only lingering to congratulate him before teasing him some more.

"Sooo Shika-chan, you happy I'm on your team?" Naruto singsonged, poking the idle Nara's cheek as he tried to snooze in vain on the desk.

"Two troublesome blondes on my team? No." The brunette snorted as he turned his face to look at his teammate with lazy eyes. Ino had left earlier in a huff, still unhappy that she had not been placed in a team with Sasuke. She was probably going to drown her sorrows in non-fat sour cream or something.

"Two 'troublesome blondes' and a ninken thank you very much," Naruto huffed, petting Kanemaru's orange ears to placify the disgruntled dog, who was unhappy to have been skipped over by the lethargic brunette.

"Mm, sorry Kanemaru," Shikamaru had learned by now not to get on the small puppy's bad side. Not after the Doggy Bag Incident. The orange and white ninken nodded as he flopped down onto the desk for a snooze, apparently deciding to join the lethargic Nara in his snooze.

"But I do kind of get you, I don't know that the old man was thinking when he placed us with Ino…" The blonde stroked his chin thoughtfully, leaning back into the hard Academy chair as his eyes squinted, mouth working hard on his senbon.

Shikamaru rolled one dark eye towards the puzzled blonde and moved to cradle his chin in his palm, lifting head to face the senbon chewing Genin full on.

"The Hokage would have chosen the career path for us already by now. Each team has their own specific purpose for the village and I'm pretty sure of what ours is," The Nara now had Naruto's full attention, his blue eyes staring straight into his with an air of patience. Shikamaru always got a tiny bit nervous when the blonde would act like this. Gone was the cheerful and charismatic Inuzuka with what seemed to be air for brains. Now he was cool and level headed.

'_Keeping a cool head and a hot heart_'. That was what Naruto had called it on one occasion. The head was to be used to ruminate about all the possible paths to beat the opponent with as little struggle and time as possible while the heart fuelled the body with the will of fire and determination to see the mission through, what ever the cost.

The Nara didn't bother mincing words now, he knew that Naruto would understand what he was about to tell him "Our team is most likely to be an assassination team, it is also probable that we will be used for espionage. Teams like us are rare, it's often that the skills required for this type of career do not surface in ninja as young as us and are not capitalised on until we reach Jōnin or perhaps Chūnin level,"

"But Ino?" The whiskered blonde questioned, still a little confused over why the other blonde had been chosen. He understood the Yamanaka family's use of mind jutsu's and how they would be useful in a team such as this, but Ino didn't seem to have inherited her family's motivation. She seemed more interested in how she appeared to others and how to impress Sasuke than how to become a powerful kunoichi.

"It was probably based off of pure untapped talent that she was placed into this team. She may seem like a total airhead to us, but perhaps the Hokage saw something different in her," Shikamaru had just as much of a guess as Naruto on this one, but this seemed like a more probable answer to the mystery than any other.

"Ooh, Shikamaru-kun, looks like we lucked out with you on our team huh? Such a clever boy!" Anko's bubbly voice hit their ears without warning as the pretty brunette stood in front of their desk, Kakashi stood silently next to her as he eye smiled coyly over his copy of Icha Icha.

"But while we're here I should probably mentioning that we're having a Team seven meeting in training ground forty four, get to the tower in about ten minutes, ne? You know the way Naruto, right?" They both vanished with a swirl of leaves, Anko wearing a slightly sinister smile that Kakashi was probably also simulating underneath his mask.

Shikamaru looked over at the blue eyes blonde, who was now a chalky white underneath his tan and began to suspect the worst. Even Kanemaru had frozen, showing the whites of his eyes slightly.

"Okay, so what exactly is training ground forty four?" The Nara teen watched, bemused, as Naruto gulped before answering.

"Well, its nickname is the Forest of Death, so you tell me,"

This caused Shikamaru to pause before heaving a gusty sigh "_Mendokuse,"_

Thirty seconds later the trio could be seen launching themselves over Konoha's rooftops, Naruto's ninken sitting neatly in his trench coat, his head poking out from just under the blonde's chin.

"How far away is the training ground?" Shikamaru questioned lowly as he ran alongside his Inuzuka teammate, by his calculations they had only eight minutes to be at this 'tower'.

"Another five minutes at this speed, and believe me we are not going to make it to the tower in time to avoid some kind of cruel and unusual punishment," The blonde growled and began to push himself faster, Shikamaru was struggling to catch up.

He had known that his friend was fast, but as he watched the trench coat wearing Genin push himself to speeds that were almost impossible to reach at a Genin's level, he came to realise that Naruto was on a whole different platform of 'fast'.

_Mendokusē__, _the Nara muttered to himself internally and he also forced himself faster. Hey may be ridiculously lazy but if his new sensei's were enough to cause Naruto to act this way at the prospect of their 'punishment' then the effort was worth the lack of grievous harm.

Soon they had broken away from the village and were now zipping past trees at an incredible rate, only missing the hard trunks of the flora by mere centimetres at the best of times. The brunette had managed to keep his eyes on Naruto so that he could follow him, since the blonde seemed to know where he was going. His chest was burning as he panted for breath, he really needed to work on his stamina… Nah, too much trouble.

All thoughts of the impending need for effort were interrupted as the lazy teen caught sight of the huge, looming training ground ahead. It was surrounded by a sturdy chain link fence decorated with a multitude of warning signs, warning off any curious (read: insane) ninja with promises of grievous injury galore.

At this moment Shikamaru would have liked to do nothing more than to turn around and go find a nice grassy clearing where he could cloud watch and catch up on some well deserved sleep. Running like this had earned him a whole week off of training in his opinion, and a 'lose all troublesome blondes for free' card.

"C'mon Shika! If we keep this speed we might actually be able to avoid too much maiming!" The aforementioned troublesome blonde exclaimed as he looked back to his brunette teammate urgently. Shikamaru sweat dropped slightly as he continued to follow the Inuzuka, who was now climbing up the chain link fence with incredible ease, despite only having his hands to grip onto the small holes in the fence, his feet unable to grip onto anything for their superior size.

_How is he not screaming in pain? His fingers supporting his entire body weight on a small strand of chain… His fingers should be drenched in blood by now._Shikamaru was in slight awe as he watched Naruto continue to scale the fence with ease, vault over the foot high spools of razor wire and drop back down on the other side with a cheery grin back at his teammate, looking slightly impatient.

"_Shikamaru_! Dude, we gotta hurry, get your ass in motion!" Kanemaru yapped in agreement.

_What kind of training has this idiot gone through..__? _The brunette shook his head as he quickly looked around to find an alternate route into the training ground without mutilating his hands and quickly spotted a large tree close to the edge of the fence.

Everything came together in his mind in a second as he quickly moved through the air, jumping onto the lowest branch of a great pine and moving up the thick branches briskly. Upon reaching the branch closest to the enclosure he launched two shuriken across the gap, which were attached to some ninja wire which ends he had in his hands. Once the projectiles had thunked into one of the trees inside training ground forty four, high above his own head, he gave a hard tug on the ninja wire to ensure that the shuriken were deeply embedded into the wood of the tree before wrapping some makeshift hand guards made of ripped cloth to ensure his hand's safety prior to swinging across.

During this Naruto was watching from below with an air of impatience and curiosity. Why hadn't he just climbed over like he had? He watched as his teammate came to land next to him, gathering up his shuriken and ninja wire neatly and depositing them into his various pouches.

Naruto grinned edgily "Lets go, we have four minutes left,"

Shikamaru nodded previous to them both setting off once again, taking to the trees. Shikamaru was beginning to lag behind, being left in Naruto's dust as the blondes superior stamina began to show.

Some huge feline-like things had started to follow them from below as they leaped from tree to tree, green slitted eyes focused on them as they weaved effortlessly and agilely through the foliage.

"What are they?" Shikamaru hissed in confusion, looking over to his blonde teammate expectantly.

"Anko-nee said that they're some kind of tiger summon slash wildcat cross-breed or something that the Hokage relocated to here to stop them from becoming extinct. Now they're just used to train the ninja that come in here…" Shikamaru shook his head slowly. If his sensei's were really as insane as Naruto was unknowingly making them out to be, his mother be damned, he was going to quit being a ninja.

Naruto kept a close eye on the tiger hybrids below, he had been up close and personal more than once before and they had taken a shine to the way his blood tasted.

His internal clock slowly ticked down from four minutes to three, and then to two, all the while using everything at his disposal to stop anything from hindering his and Shikamaru's mission to get to the tower.

But as they both neared the centre tower, they were ambushed by numerous snakes, which Naruto had immediately identified to be Anko's snake summons. They had managed to mask their scent enough that Naruto or Kanemaru wouldn't notice it so easily, and in his haste he had missed it completely.

He silently berated himself as he and his new teammate engaged in combat, trying to knock the reptiles unconscious after the blonde had warned the Nana of the snakes' affiliations with their co-sensei, and also informing the brunette of how pissed the brutish Jōnin would be if he actually did manage to harm one of her summons. Not to mention the chief snake's.

One large reptile lunged towards the blonde, maw gaping wide as it aimed for the neck. Naruto jumped high, grabbing the scaly neck just behind the snake's head and threw it elsewhere, using the momentum of his twisting body to throw it as far as possible.

Shikamaru was a little further away, using simplistic Taijutsu the best of it's ability to avoid Anko's summons. By using the same tactics as Naruto, he managed to throw them far and hard enough to cause them to dispel and travel back to their own universe.

But for all of their valiant efforts, the clock was still ticking and the snakes were still coming.

He looked down at Kanemaru, who was still tucked into his trench coat and looking quite bored with the situation and sighed. If he wanted to get to the tower with some semblance of punctuality he'd have to bring out some of the big guns. The basic Taijutsu he was using just wasn't going to cut it, and he didn't really want to reveal some of the more powerful martial arts he had tucked away for special occasions to Shikamaru just yet. He had to keep some secrets, he was sure that the Nara was in trouble. He spat multiple senbon at the huge reptiles to keep them at bay.

With a short growl to Kanemaru the puppy disappeared, dropping from the top of his coat and to the ground at his feet, quickly vanishing in a flash of orange and white through the green foliage.

Naruto grinned as he nipped his thumb hard enough to draw blood before pulling a medium sized scroll from one of his long sleeves and unrolling it, slashing his bloody but now healed thumb across the sealing scroll with a vindictive snicker and the snakes lunged at him once more...

Only to be hit full in the face with a thick bamboo staff, knocking them clear through the leafy canopy of the forest and into the sky above. The blonde could just hear the barely there '_poof_'ing sound of the summons dispelling.

_"__Hooome ruuun~!"_Naruto cheered, pumping his fist in the air in victory and performing an impromptu victory dance on the spot as Shikamaru stared at him boringly , leaning lazily against the thick trunk of a tree. Sometime during the last twenty seconds the Nara had disposed of all the reptiles in his vicinity, knocking them out cleanly so that they poofed back into their own realm.

"Ten seconds left," Shikamaru noted idly, tilting his head back and staring up at whatever sky that was visible through the thick forest above their heads.

"Yeah. Think we can make it?"

Sigh. "Troublesome blondes…"

They both moved in blurs towards the tower, slamming open the door and running up the stairs to the right, going directly towards the top of the tower.

"Three," A chipper voice commented.

_Muscles strained as they were pushed to their utmost limits as every last drop of speed was drained out of them._

"Two," A smooth baritone sighed.

_Sweat beaded and dripped from temples as lungs rasped for breath that they didn't have, throats clicking dryly._

_"__One~"_Both of the voices gleefully sang.

**BANG**

"Did we make it!?" Naruto gasped wildly, holding the door frame for support, Shikamaru doing the same next to him, looking seconds away from having a nice long nap (read: coma).

"Nope~" Anko bubbled, smiling hugely as she sat behind a desk placed at the back of the room, chair tilted back and feet on the surface.

"But Kanemaru got here on time!"

"Arf!" Kanemaru agreed from his place in front of the desk, tail wagging as the puppy smiled reassuringly at his partner.

"But, there's no point of a team existing if only one person gets the job done! We might as well all just go solo if that was the case," Anko abolished her little blonde otouto, wagging her finger in disapproval "The point of _having_a team is so that people will get things _done_in a team, and therefore make better foundations for future _successful_missions. Nobody does solo missions ya'know!"

"Plus, teamwork is very essential to having a happy mind. We ninja are very social beings after all..." Kakashi mused, nose buried in his little orange book as he lounged on the window ledge.

"So we didn't pass the test?" Shikamaru questioned as his blonde teammate's mouth hung open in disbelief.

"No," The evil brunette stuck her tongue out as she held the peace sign up to her eye, looking out between the digits at the two disbelieving Genin in front of her.

Shikamaru moved silently across the room with his back to the wall and suddenly flopped down, leaning back against the wall as his head lolled in a snore.

"Aand.. he's asleep," Naruto watched with slight bemusement as the brunette snoozed.

Anko frowned slightly down at the unconscious brunette boy "That's a little rude, he didn't stay awake for the big reveal…" Naruto perked up hopefully, was there an amazing catch that would save him and his teammate from grievous injuries?

"We found your other blonde haired teammate! She's not as cute as Naru-chan though," The perverted brunette seemed to coo the last part at him, her eyes growing shiny as she started to get grabby hands towards the younger blonde.

"Wait, you got Ino?! How come she gets a free pass through the Forest of 'Everything Hates Naruto'?" The blonde raged while dodging Anko's wandering fingers, that was blatant favouritism and he was supposed to be the favourite!

His internal rant was cut short when he saw the state of his passed out female teammate, mud was smudged randomly across her body as well as various scrapes while leaves and twigs littered her usually immaculate hair.

"I had Anko carry her here since blondie didn't want to try get here within ten minutes like you guys," Droned Kakashi from his place on the windowsill, blinking innocently over at his otouto, which, rather than confirming the silver haired Jōnin to be unimpeachable, gave the blue eyed blonde a strong sense of unease.

Sometimes it was easy to forget that Kakashi was a seasoned Jōnin and ex-ANBU, what with all the porn and lazy attitude. That was probably on purpose now that he thought about it, one really did have to look underneath the underneath with Kakashi. There was a method to the madness so it seemed.

"Is she alive?" Naruto stared worriedly at Ino, hoping that his surrogate Ane-chan (older sister) hadn't already managed to kill one of the Genin she was supposed to help train.

"Nah, I just saw her twitch."

The blonde and his canine companion both sweat-dropped as Naruto's senbon hung loosely from his lips in disbelief.

"Hey Naruto, I think its time to wake your teammates. Bonding time," Kakashi lay his book open on his lap as he raised his arms over his head in a stretch.

"Really Kaka-Ani?" Naruto whined, all he'd really like to do was go home and have a nice long sleep. And also leave before his surrogate older siblings remembered that he and Shikamaru hadn't gotten here on time.

"Yes, come on. Unless you want _Anko_to wake them and possibly scar them for the rest of their lives," The Inuzuka paled a little and quickly moved over to his male teammate to shake him awake. Knowing the buxom Jōnin she'd leave his teammates incapable of anything other than screaming and having debilitating nightmares for the remainder of their existences, and then they'd _both_be useless.

Waking the Nara was actually quite a feat, Shikamaru had fallen into a somewhat deep sleep and didn't seem to be inclined to wake up any time soon, despite Naruto's frantic urging.

Soon he just gave up and turned to Ino, hoping she'd know what to with Shikamaru, managing to nudge her awake by poking her face multiple times and calling her name coaxingly, but for all his trouble as soon as she woke up she punched him directly in the face. It felt like being hit with a sledgehammer and she wasn't even fully awake yet.

"Hey, what was that for Ino-chan?!" Naruto clutched his tender right cheek, blinking dumbly as his groggy kunoichi teammate staggered to her feet and looked around bewilderedly.

"Where the hell am I?" She wailed "Oh god don't tell me that pervert sensei kidnapped me and is going to have his wicked way with me! I have to save myself for Sasuke-kun!" She was frantically looking around, her entire body froze when her eyes landed on the rest of the people in the room. Kakashi looked slightly offended from what she could see of his face.

"Why are you guys here?" Ino puzzled, scratching her bedraggled head as the rest stared on and Shikamaru snored.

"Team meeting. Don't suppose you would wake Shika for me?" Naruto threw in a big smile in order to make himself seem more agreeable, only for it to tug painfully at his swollen cheek and cause him to flinch, making his grin to turn into a grimace.

"Um, sure," Ino blinked, caught off guard, before quickly walking over to her long time friend and stomping on him.

"WAKE UP SHIKAMARU! YOU LAZY DOG!" She howled, stomping on the brunette again and again.

"Hey, I take offence to that!"

"Arf!"

* * *

"So! Lets learn a little about each other shall we?" Kakashi eye smiled, one hand cupping his chin as his elbow rested on his knee for support.

"Um, what do you mean sensei?" Ino questioned, mindfully baffled still by the turn of events and therefore still unable to fully come to her senses and act like her usual overbearing self.

They were all sat in a circle on the floor, legs folded. Naruto, Ino, Shikamaru, Kanemaru, Kakashi and Anko. They had been sat like this for over five minutes on Kakashi's orders, who had just sat there and stared at them all with a cheery creepiness until the silver haired Jōnin had spoken.

"Its a team building exercise, to learn about each other. You know.. Likes, dislikes, hobbies, life goals.. Stuff like that," The ex-ANBU eye smiled again and surveyed his group patiently again.

"Ooh, I'll start!" Anko chirruped from her spot very close to Naruto. She was almost on his lap.

"Sigh… Go ahead Anko,"

"Okay! I'm Mitarashi Anko, I like my little Fishcake~ And dango! I dislike things that aren't my little Fishcake and dango… And villagers~! A few of my hobbies are dressing Fishcake-chan up and taking lots and lots of pictures of him and putting them on my bedroom wall, and also playing with my snakes. My goal in life is to have as many pictures of Fishcake as possible, in as many outfits as possible!" Anko seemed very enthusiastic about what she had to say. Since most of it was about 'Fishcake'. Naruto sweat dropped slightly and his ninken snickered a little.

"We didn't learn anything other than that she's a creepy stalker that eats way too much dango and plays with snakes…" Shikamaru sighed quietly, completely ignored by the rest of the group.

"Fishcake..?" Ino questioned hesitantly, looking creeped out by the Jōnin's not so small obsession with the mystery person.

"Yes," Anko replied, offering no more as Kakashi took over.

"Thanks Anko. Hello, I am Hatake Kakashi," the silver haired Jōnin waved to them "I like Icha Icha. I dislike many things that are not Icha Icha. My hobbies are reading Icha Icha and being late. My goal in life is much too long and boring to try explain to you youngsters. Try again in another three years. Okay, you're next blondie,"

Both Naruto and Ino immediately pointed to themselves in a question, staring blankly at the scarecrow nin.

"The long haired one," Kakashi elaborated a little more.

"Ah, Hi. I'm Yamanaka Ino, I like plants and Sasuke-kun,"_Kyaa_"I dislike pink haired billboard brows and getting dirty. My hobbies are learning things about Sasuke-kun," _Kyaa_"And managing my family's store. My goal in life to marry Sasuke-kun," _Kyaaaa. _Naruto stared at his fellow blonde in mild repugnance, how had she even passed the Academy exam? She was that focused on the Uchiha that he was surprised she noticed that anything else existed, let alone have the time to train to become a successful ninja.

People like this irritated Naruto. Lovesick girls that couldn't see past their absurd fascination with the first attractive male they set their sights on and would do anything in the world for them. Even though he was sure that Ino would have attended the Academy anyway considering her families tie with the ninja calling and a very specific line of jutsu belonging to the Yamanaka's which was invaluable to Konoha itself…

A person that set themselves to a goal and stuck it out no matter what was a different situation entirely, but when it came to pure obsession and an unwavering willingness to do anything for the one they 'loved'... They were just asking to get taken advantage of. And when you were a ninja, being taken advantage of was something that could get you killed in a heartbeat.

But Naruto wanted to be a successful ninja. And that meant having a good team. Therefore, it was his job to help his teammates to become stronger to the best of his ability.

He'd wring that obsessiveness from Ino even if killed him (or her)! It seemed like that was the only thing that was going to help her at all.

"Shikamaru?" Kakashi turned to the teen aged brunette expectantly, causing the idle Nara to groan unhappily.

"Nara Shikamaru, I like Shogi and Go, I dislike troublesome people, my hobbies are strategy games. My life goal is to marry a regular girl who isn't too ugly and not too pretty. Have two children, first a girl, then a boy. Retire after my daughter is married and my son becomes a successful ninja, and spend the rest of my life playing Shogi or Go. Then die of old age before my wife."

Everybody blinked once or twice confounded by the normally lazy brunettes rather detailed explanation compared to his first couple of answers.

"You've really thought that out..." Ino was a little stunned as she blinked rapidly at the Nara, taking in the new information.

"Okay Naruto, your turn," Kakashi ordered him, placing his elbows on his knees, fingers woven under his chin as he stared at the whiskered blonde in interest.

"I'm Inuzuka Naruto, I like ramen and sharp things. I don't like blunt things that cannot do any harm to my targets, the three minutes it takes for my instant ramen to cook and stuck up people. My hobbies are Kenjutsu and playing with my family's ninken. My goal in life is to become a Kenjutsu master and travel the world," Naruto nodded, eyes slitting and his mouth grinning around his senbon merrily as Kanemaru thumped his tail in agreement.

_"__Sooo cute~!"_Anko squealed, tackling the blonde in a hug and instantly smothering him with her boobs.

"Is he going to be okay?" Ino asked Kakashi hesitantly as she watched her fellow blonde struggle underneath the buxom Jōnin, arms and legs flailing wildly in an effort to escape.

"Probably," Although he was sure that he would.

* * *

_**Hello!**_

**Okay, yep, I'm sorry. This is late. Three days late. Heh.**

**I actually had a life last weekend, alright, friend's birthdays and stuff, shopping, food, me actually acting like a girl for once.**

**Today was soo busy as well, I had art homework to do and that took me about two hours, then I ate food, made many cups of tea, cried over being forever alone, spent another three hours writing the rest of this chapter, talked with my shiny new beta (kieran aitken, hes such a bae bless him) while he edited the chapter for all my horrific spelling mistakes and such, got multiple dodgeballs aimed at my head in p.e earlier today (they all missed, ha!) and talked with my dogs about life.**

**But thank you guys for all the continued support, your reviews have been AMAZING to read and I love you all. Tell me what you think?**

_**But you know what to do, Review, Favorite, Follow, give me something to fuel me on in further chapters...**_

_**Ja ne~**_

_Hi everyone ,this chapter was Beta-read by me kieran aitken. So any and all mistakes are on me so until the next one _

_Ja Ne._


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